Replacement
by Xaphrin
Summary: When Slade teams up with Lex Luthor, the Teen Titans ask for the help of the Young Justice. But Kid Flash fears that his team is going to be replaced. Paired with Raven during a recon mission he discovers his fears to be false and something... more.
1. Prologue

**Replacement  
><strong>_A Kid Flash and Raven Crossover Fan-Fiction_

)O(

Prologue

Lex Luthor was not one to shy away from threats. No, in fact, he _liked _threats. He _liked _knowing that someone was standing up to him, because that way there was an excuse to exercise power and dominion. And if there was one thing Lex Luthor liked more than money, it was power. Power built and destroyed nations, and power defeated allies and enemies alike. Power was _always _what he was after.

Power, not money or technology or even superpowers, was the ultimate weapon.

But _this_ threat, issued by _this _particular individual, did nothing more than irritate him. Lex pressed his lips into a thin line and stared at the man sitting in his temporary office in Taipei, Rhelasia. Today was _certainly _going to be interesting. "And you want in on this deal… _why_?" He frowned and stood up, starting to pace around his unwanted visitor. "Forgive me for all the questions, Mr. Wilson, but you _must_ understand my concern. You offer me no real reason as to why I should include you in on this deal. You have no special abilities, no ingenuities. You are… _normal._"

Slade frowned at the insult, but chose not to acknowledge it. "I require your services to destroy the-"

"Yes, yes. I know all about your little tiff with _them_." Lex waved him off, beginning to feel annoyed. He had more important things to do than to argue with a tired, worn out mercenary. He had countries to build and governments sabotage. "I know what _you_ need _me_ for. But I wish to understand what _I _need _you_ for? You offer me no services that I do not already have. Nothing. As much as you wish to ignore it, this is a _business_, Mr. Wilson, and I cannot give you something for nothing."

Slade glared at Lex Luthor with his one good eye, as if willing him to suffer and die in front of him. _That _was something. Lex would have killed to obtain a stare like that. Slade dropped his voice low and stood up, pressing his body close to Lex's, showing the business man that he would not be intimidated. "I am a dangerous man, Mr. Luthor. Deadly, discrete, accurate, and… a little bit… _troubled_. While you do not see an immediate use for me, I can guarantee that I am an invaluable member to your team. I can infiltrate the deepest levels of the government, track down whoever you wish in the middle of nowhere, and I do not hesitate to kill."

"And that's it?" Lex was becoming bored. All mercenaries thought they were special and perfect at their job. But the cons always outweighed the pros, mercenaries could be messy, they involved too much red tape, and worst of all, they were expensive. It cost good money to kill people, evil or otherwise. "I have assassins on my team, Mr. Wilson. I do not need another, nor do I want to pay for one."

"I am _more_ than an assassin. And I work for free."

Lex cocked his head to the side and stared at him, frowning. "Free? In my world nothing is free."

"I work for free." Slade repeated himself and stood closer, his own size nearly enveloping Lex's body. He was powerful, that was for sure. "I only ask that when the time comes, you fill the requests I have."

Ah, there was the catch. Lex raised an eyebrow and started back at him. "And if I don't?"

"Then I will remove your body parts and send them piece by piece to the Justice League." A slow, cruel smile peeled across his lips. "And I will be _sure _that Superman receives your balls in a jar."

"Creative." Lex paused and thought about the arrangement. Slade was, as far as he knew, one of the most ruthless and deadly mercenaries he knew. Even though his files were nearly blank with descriptions of his character and pervious exploits, gossip didn't lie. Slade Wilson was not a man to be trifled with. But that didn't stop him from being a liability. He was still, after all, a mercenary. Lex weighed the pros and cons for a long moment, trying to decide if all that raw, human power was worth the trouble.

It was.

Lex smiled and held out his hand. "Mr. Wilson, you have a deal."

Slade slipped his hand into Lex's and gave him an angry slash of a smile. "Please, call me Deathstroke."

)O(

Wally West was known for several things. One: He was super fast. Two: He was the protégé to his uncle, The Flash. Three: His dashingly good looks. Four: His ability to consume absurd amounts of calories and never gain a pound. And five: He hated change.

Okay, the whole "Wally West hates change" thing wasn't exactly known to _everybody_, in fact he was pretty sure that most of his closest friends didn't even know about it, but it was the truth. Change meant that everything he knew to be solid in his life (good or bad) was morphing into something else. And in his own world, change was the worst possible outcome. Change was where you lost great friends like Speedy, and gained annoying nuisances like Artemis.

Change meant you were being replaced.

So, imagine Wally's surprise when he walked into the entry hall of Mount Justice to find four new teenagers talking to Batman. _Four_. Four replacements, all waiting for orders, and _none _of them looked up to par with his teammates. This couldn't be good.

They were serious, angry, and a hodge-podge group of misfits who never had mentors. Pft. They were _second rate_, and his team was nothing but the best. Wally couldn't even place _one _familiar face. Really? What self-respecting superhero would have a gangly green _kid_ as his sidekick? Okay, the half-robot man was pretty awesome, Wally would admit that, but the two girls… ouch. The redhead was hot, but she looked about as bright as M'Gann on a bad day, and the other girl hid under a cloak and in the shadows like some kind of freaky vampire. It was sad what passed for a hero these days.

"Kid Flash." Batman's steely voice made Wally stop skirting around the edge of the room. He plastered on a fake smile and strode closer to the group, waving. Four sets of eyes stared dully at him, as if they were just as frustrated by the change. Good, maybe they should go back to whatever hole they crawled out of.

"Hey, Batman. It's good to see you."

"Likewise." Wally _seriously _doubted that Batman was happy to see him. He motioned to the four teens standing in front of him. "I'm glad you dropped by, I have yet to call your teammates down." There was a long, awkward pause as Wally and Batman stared at each other. Jeez, this guy sure did have a thing for dramatics. "Will you please alert them that we have visitors this evening?"

Uh, _no_. Being replaced by leftover super teens wasn't exactly what he wanted to do on a Friday night. Wally forced a smile, it was best not to butt heads with the Bats. "Yeah. No problem." He took off into Mount Justice, searching the cave chambers for his friends. This was bad, this was very, _very_ bad. They _all _had to meet the misfits? Did that mean they were _all_ going to get replaced? Tossed out like leftover meatloaf? He felt his heart squeeze in his chest, as if panicked.

"Wally! What's wrong? You're so upset you're broadcasting your thoughts all over Mount Justice." Wally jerked to a stop as he stood in front of M'Gann, who was flanked by Superboy and Artemis. She blinked at him and cocked her head to the side, red hair spilling over her shoulder. "What is going on? What happened?"

"I… the…" He didn't want to frighten anyone, but the truth couldn't be avoided. "Batman brought in new superheroes." Wally let go of an intense string of colorful curses he didn't know he was holding. It didn't make him feel any better. "He wants us to come down and meet them."

"New superheroes? Like who?" Superboy cocked his head to the side and stared at him with those intense, blue eyes. That kid freaked the hell out of Wally sometimes. Of course he would never tell him that, not when Superboy would fill him with a flick of his pinky. It was a scary world when you were friends with an angry, disgruntled clone of Superman.

"I don't know." Wally shook his head and cursed again. Nope, still didn't make him feel any better. "I've never seen them before in my life. Some robot guy, a green kid, a hot redhead, and a freaky girl in a cloak… ring a bell with anyone?" Everyone shook their head and frowned. Wally sighed, feeling defeated. "Me either."

"They're the Teen Titans."

Wally jumped and started at Robin behind him. The whole ninja thing was super annoying sometimes. Robin was the only one who could sneak up on him. "The what-whats?"

"The Teen Titans." He shrugged and stood next to his friends, frowning at their confused expressions. "Strictly speaking they're not even really associated with the League, they don't even have personal files or mentors. They're just a ragtag team of misfits from Jump City on the other side of the country. But, Batman was talking to them last night, and apparently they need us for something."

"Like _what_?" Artemis cocked and eyebrow and rolled her eyes. "We're doing fine without help."

"Yeah, but _they _aren't." Wally jerked his thumb in the direction of the entry hall. "You should see what they look like… it's freakin' sad. I mean… _really sad_."

"Wally…" M'Gann shook her head and sighed. "Be nice."

"I'm _serious_, Megan. They're _weird_. I mean, one kid is..." Wally stopped mid sentence. It probably wouldn't do to tease a kid about being green while standing in front of the Martian Manhunter's niece. He just crossed his arms over his chest and looked around his friends, trying to avoid the topic of being green. Someone was missing. "Where's Aqualad?"

"He had some business to attend to in Atlantis. He'll be back tomorrow morning." The deep, stoic cadence rippled down Wally's spine and he turned to look into Batman's masked face, surrounded by the curious, slightly disgruntled faces of the Teen Titans. He briefly wondered if they heard all his rude comments, and then quickly remembered he didn't really care. After all _they _were intruding on his turf.

Batman continued to stare at him. "You seemed to take an awful lot of time for someone who can break the sound barrier, Kid Flash."

The gangly green kid snickered behind his hand and Wally rolled his eyes. Just what he needed, _Batman _cracking jokes at his expense. That was a surefire way to get replaced. "Sorry, I got caught up in conversation."

"Clearly." He motioned to the seating in the living room. "If you're done with your current conversation, we have something fairly important we wish to discuss with you."

_We_. Wally hated that word. His stomach knotted as he thought about being replaced by that green kid. What was his power anyway? Turning people into vegetables? Mumbling under his breath he plopped down onto one of the sofas and stared at the four teenagers. Why _now_? Right after he'd finally made friends and adjusted to being in the team, now he was going to be replaced? By a kid the color of snot? This was one _cruel_ cosmic joke.

"If you don't mind me asking, Batman… exactly what are these kids doing here?" Superboy, tactful as always.

"Kids?" The robot man stepped forward and glared, some of the dials and gauges on his body lit up with the surge of anger. "You think we're _kids_? You're the same age as us, wannabe. Don't start with me."

Wally cringed as he called Superboy _wannabe. _That was asking for blood to be shed.

"Cyborg." One pale hand emerged from the folds of the blue cloak, and the girl touched his arm. "_Please_. Calm down. There's no need to get upset, and we need their help. So let's try to be… _civil_." The voice was deep and melodic, like a funeral dirge played on an organ. The sound sent shivers running down Wally's spine, and he briefly wondered what she looked like underneath that blue hood. She turned to face everyone, and Wally was drawn to the small, slash of her mouth, tugging down in a frown.

The redhead piped up, taking her spot next to the cloaked girl. "Please forgive our intrusion! We do not wish to upset you, however we are in desperate need of some assistance. Our own means of operation do not compare to yours, and if we are to stop the forces we fight, we must have others to help us."

Wally scratched his head. "I'm sorry, _what_?"

Artemis rolled her eyes. "She said she's sorry for barging in, they don't want to make us mad, but they need our help because they can't do it alone. Duh."

"_Thanks_." He sneered at her before turning to look at the rest of the group. "So what does this have to do with us?"

"We need your help tracking down and destroying an enemy of ours." The cloaked girl pulled a small flash drive from her pocket and plugged it into the television. The files loaded onto the screen, and Wally came face-to-face with the creepiest looking old guy he'd ever seen. One eye, salt and pepper hair, and muscles that look like they would have ripped through steel.

"Who is _that_?" Robin glared at the screen, frowning.

"His name is Slade Wilson, his alias is Deathstroke." Cyborg flicked through the files so everyone could see them. "He is a mercenary of epic proportions. Deadly, accurate, and completely messed up in the head. He has killed more foreign dignitaries, presidents, prime ministers, and politicians than there are stars in the sky. He has been used to destroy governments, cities, and businesses, and he has been terrorizing Jump City for the past six months."

Wally looked around at his teammates and saw the same confused expression he knew he had. "Okay, that's great and all… but what does that have to do with us? He's _your _problem."

"We've been able to keep him under control for the past few months, however…" The girl in the cloak reached up and pulled her hood down, exposing deep plum-colored hair, and pale, delicate features that reminded Wally of a china doll. "We have intelligence that suggests that Deathstroke is now working on a more global scale… and we need to understand what that is."

Robin snorted and leaned back into his seat. "Still not understanding what this has to do with us."

The pale, plum haired girl frowned. "We have reason to believe he's working with Lex Luthor."

There was a low, collective gasp that permeated the room and the air turned thick with emotions. The gangly green kid finally spoke up. "Is _that _reason enough for you to help?"

)O(

_I do not imagine this to be very long. Perhaps five more chapters or so. Please leave a review and tell me what you think! I like to hear what I can change and what needs work. Thanks again!_


	2. Chapter One

**Replacement  
><strong>Chapter One

)O(

Raven stood in their kitchen, arms crossed as she watched the dynamics (or lack thereof) play out in front of her. The air was thick with unspoken tension, suspicion, and loyalty to everyone's own team. Raven likened it to a middle school dance, one clique on one side of the room, the other clique on the other side of the room, and nary the two shall meet. It was bordering on pathetic. She sighed and pressed a hand to her forehead, trying to ward off a headache. They were _young adults_, they should be able to get along with other _young adults_. Heaven forbid her teammates would act mature for once.

"I suppose it's too much to ask for all of you to get along immediately." Batman's voice was like ice in the heated room and Raven turned to stare at him. He tried to smile but it looked more like he was baring his teeth, and it frightened her a little. "I know you all must be… _upset_ at this new arrangement, but I assure you that it will only be temporary."

"We have to work _with them_?" Robin pointed in the Titan's general direction and scowled. "We've got our own problems to deal with, we can't pick up after someone else's mess."

Raven cringed at his accusation, that was a low blow. Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy, and she had all worked hard to keep Deathstroke from becoming a global problem. They had been diligent in making sure that the Justice League didn't have to get involved, and that there was no need to bother other superheroes. For six months they had done a fairly good job, but knowing that Deathstroke was teaming up with Lex Luthor made things complicated and even more dangerous.

"Now, hold on a second." Cyborg held up his hand and stared at the five kids across from him. "We worked hard to keep Deathstroke from becoming a _serious _problem so _you_ didn't have to deal with him. We were doing you a favor. It's not _our _fault that he got smart and sold himself to Lex Luthor."

"You could have stopped him before. You _should _have stopped him before." Superboy crossed his arms over his chest and stared. Raven had a hard time looking at him, for several reasons. The first was that he had the most intense, icy blue eyes. It was like staring into an ancient glacier, waiting to for it to swallow you whole. The second was that he was the supreme specimen of primal masculinity, and something in his broad shoulders and deep voice rattled her bones.

"We did!" Beast Boy was whining, which was a sure sign that he was getting upset. Not that Raven blamed him, their team was getting accused of things they had no control over. "Do you know _how hard_ it is to stop him? Like, _really hard_. He's _brutal_."

"He is most upsetting!" Starfire's eyes were glowing, which made Raven uneasy. She was the one who handled contention the worst. She felt every superhero must be on each other's side, and if they weren't, she became confused and angry… which usually led to something being destroyed. "We have beaten him the best we could, and yet he continues to thwart our every move. He is most evil and will not stop until he obtains what he wants."

"Everyone, _calm down_." Raven pinched the bridge of her nose and moved to stand between the two teams. "This pointless fighting is going to do all us no good." She turned and looked at the Young Justice, frowning. "Please, think above yourselves right now. We have a brutal, ruthless, maniacal mercenary on the loose, which has teamed up with one of the most dangerous business men in the world. And not _just_ one of the most dangerous business men in the world, the one who now has full economic control of both North _and_ South Rhelasia."

Pausing, Raven watched with mild satisfaction as their faces fell and every team member in the room turned sheepish. They were all beginning to understand the severity of what was happening. "We _have_ to figure out what is going on, and why Deathstroke has chosen to team up with Lex Luthor." She turned to look at her own team and glared. "And you need to stop being so accusing and defensive. They are working with us the best they can, and we should be grateful that they're at least helping."

Raven felt their emotions shift from angry to remorseful, and she had to fight a smirk. Leave it to logic to keep everyone in line. She looked at Cyborg, who had taken a serious interest in one of his displays on his left arm. "We need a plan of action. All we know right now is that Deathstroke has teamed up with Lex Luthor, we don't know _why_, and we need to." She moved to the television screen and flitted through the files until a map of Taipei pulled up. "There are five separate offices within Taipei that house important sections of LexCorp. We need to get into each of those offices and discover exactly what Lex Luthor plans on doing with Deathstroke."

"Or vice versa." Robin stood up and walked to the screen, rubbing his chin in thought. "Why can't we just hack into the main database and pull the files wirelessly? I bet it wouldn't take more than a day to do so, and it doesn't involve an eighteen hour flight to Rhelasia."

"We've discussed that option." Cyborg stood next Robin and looked down at him. "Unfortunately all of the secure databases for LexCorp are not linked to _anything_. They function as standalone servers on an ultra secure network, which keeps their information impossibly safe. It also makes it damn near impossible to hack into the system."

"So, what are we going to do?" M'Gann started to pace and mumble rapidly in her native language. Raven watched her curiously, there was something… _endearing _about her. Like a sister, or long time best friend. "If we can't hack the system remotely, then we'll _have _to infiltrate each of the offices to reach the databases… right?"

"Pft. _That_ ought to go over well." Kid Flash leaned back into the sofa and glared at Raven with freakishly green eyes. She returned the stare, still frowning. Kid Flash made her feel more uncomfortable than Superboy. He was suspicious, easily upset, and impulsive, and something in his face warned Raven that he was a force to be reckoned with. "Ten teenagers just parading through some of the most highly guarded offices in the world? Housing some of the most top secret information in the world? You don't think that Lex Luthor is going to know we're up to something?"

"Of course he's going to notice, regardless if there're ten of us or none of us. He's smart, and if you or I know anything about him, then he must already suspect that we're on this case." Raven crossed her arms over her chest and turned towards him. "So, we're going to have to figure out a way to keep him off our trail long enough to download the information we need."

Kid Flash sneered at her. "And how do you expect we do _that_?"

"We split up." Artemis stood and pushed Robin out of the way. She stared at the screen for a moment before turning back to her friends. Raven was finding she liked Artemis more and more. There was something no-nonsense and down to earth about her, and _that _was something Raven desperately needed in her own team. Artemis pointed out the offices marked on the map. "Look, there are five offices and ten of us, if you count Kaldur. We split into teams of two and infiltrate one of the offices. We can be discrete and still have back-up if needed."

"Then that's what we do." Robin turned around and looked at all the team members. "We split into five teams. Each team should have one ground support and one aerial support. We have two members who can fly, how many do you have?"

"Your math is off." Superboy rolled his eyes and stood up. "I don't fly, Robin. In case you forgot."

Robin waved off his concern. "You can leap buildings in a single bound, that's good enough."

Superboy frowned and looked away. "Whatever you say."

Raven watched as M'Gann moved closer to him, touching his arm gingerly. His demeanor almost immediately changed, and something in him softened. Interesting. Ignoring the subtly intimate moment between the two teens, she turned back to the rest of the group. "We have three members with flight capabilities. Myself, Starfire, and Beast Boy. That will give us five aerial support members and five ground support members, if we count Aqualad."

"Good. Beast Boy can go with Kaldur, and they'll take the office closest to the river." Robin pointed to a small dot near the industrial district.

"That one is the least guarded…" Cyborg pulled up the building specifications and displayed them on the screen. "If we time this right, we can have Beast Boy and Kaldur set off a diversion in the office, and that should keep Lex Luthor occupied and distracted long enough so that the other four teams can infiltrate the other offices and get out without being noticed. Do you think you can do that?"

Beast Boy saluted. "You can count on me!"

Raven rolled her eyes. "That's what scares me."

"You're just jealous because I have a cool and important job." Beast Boy stuck out his tongue at her, and Raven turned away.

"Super jealous." She moved to stand next to Cyborg and looked at the screen, chewing on her lower lip. "So, who should be on the other teams?"

"M'Gann can team up with Cyborg, and they'll take the office in the northern district. Starfire will team up with me, and we'll take the office closest to the airfield. Superboy can team up with Artemis, and they'll take the one downtown." Robin tapped one of the red dots outside the main city. "That should do it for the offices _within _city of Taipei… there's still that weird office out in this suburb area though."

Kid Flash stood up and cursed loudly, making everyone turn and stare at him. Robin dropped his hand and turned to face his teammate. "You forgot me. Where will I be going?"

"Clearly you and I will be teaming up, and we'll be taking that last office." Raven gave him a cold, emotionless stare. She didn't care how big of a tantrum he threw, she wouldn't let him feel like he'd won. Nor would she let him belittle her. "Is there a problem with that?"

"Um, _yeah._ Why does Robin get to be paired with the hot redhead?"

Raven jerked backwards in surprise. Of all the things that could have come out of his mouth, _that _was one she was not expecting. His team members seemed unfazed by the comment, although Artemis called him something rude. Add childish to the list of things Kid Flash was. "I'm sorry I'm not attractive enough for you. Might I remind you that we are fighting a _deadly mercenary_ and my appearance has nothing to do with the severity of the situation? Me being attractive isn't going to make this mission any safer or easier."

"You're right, it won't. However if I'm going to be stuck in an eighteen hour flight with someone, it should at least be an attractive woman."

"Ugh." Raven rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. Of all the people she could have been paired with, it had to be _him_? She would have much rather been paired with Artemis or Robin, at least they had some kind of sense. Working with Kid Flash would be like working with a ten year-old boy. "Can you even hear yourself think over the sound of that ridiculous ego?"

Kid Flash shrugged. "Sometimes."

"I do not believe that I am that hot…" Starfire had taken to touching her skin in curiosity, pressing her fingers to exposed spots on her body. "The last time I had my temperature taken, I was ninety eight point six degrees Fahrenheit, the same as most humans."

Everyone in the room blanched and stared at her.

"Star…" Raven shook her head and reached out to touch her friend. "That's not what he means."

"Is she always this…" Artemis cocked her head to the side and searched for the right word. "Confused?"

Raven turned to her and nodded. "Particularly with colloquialisms and earth customs."

"Hot has nothing to do with temperature?" Starfire looked sheepish. "I am sorry. I am trying very hard to understand all that I can about earth, but I appear to still be unable to grasp many concepts, such as the temperature of one's person."

Raven closed her eyes and shook her head. "Star… I love you to death… but please stop talking." She turned back to the group motioned to the screen. "We need to come up with a legitimate game-plan before we can even attempt this mission, and we need to do it quickly. We have intelligence that two of these servers will be moved to more secure locations within three days. We only have until then to collect the information we need."

Robin slammed a fist into his open palm. "Then let's plan until we pass out."

"_That _sounds like fun." Beast Boy mock snored, earning a glare from the Boy Wonder.

Raven chuckled. "He has a point, you know."

Robin rolled his eyes and sat down. "Shut up and get to work."

)O(

Kid Flash woke up to quiet shuffling in the kitchen behind him. He was on the sofa, he _never _fell asleep on the sofa. Great. His body felt stiff and sore from falling asleep in whatever weird position he did. The two teams had been up until all hours of the night, trying to plan for the recon mission tomorrow. Not that planning would do that much good against Lex Luthor, but it was better than going in blind.

Yawning he turned around to see that short, purple-haired girl nuking water in the microwave. Okay, Wally would admit that what he said about her was rude. _Super _rude. And it was really _low _that he said it to her face in a room crowded with both of their teammates. But, he was still angry about having to work with those _kids. _They didn't know the first thing about how to prepare for a proper recon mission, that kid Beast Boy kept talking about flies on walls… did he even know what that meant?

And even though Batman swore up and down that the Young Justice was irreplaceable, Wally couldn't help but feel… suspicious. After all, look how easily Speedy had been replaced with Artemis, and that turned out _just great_.

"You're thinking an awful lot over there, Kid Flash."

Wally cringed under the sound of her low, even voice. How did she know he was up? "It's Wally…" He sat up and twisted his body to look into the darkness. He saw the dark movement of her shadow against the cabinets, and he watched as other shadows seemed to stretch toward her, as if reaching for her. Weird. What exactly _was _she? "How did you know I was awake?"

"Empath." She tapped the side of her head and forced a small smile, which sat somewhere between a cringe and a sneer. "Don't worry, _Wally_, I'm just grabbing some water, and then this ugly duckling will remove herself from your presence. Then you can go back to dreaming about hot redheads from Tameran."

Wally cringed and ducked his head. He deserved that. "I… I didn't mean to say that I couldn't work with you. I just… it's just Robin _always _gets whatever he wants." Wow, _that _sounded douchey and childish to his _own _ears, he could only imagine what she thought of him now. He sighed stood up, walking into the kitchen where she stood. "I meant to say… I'm sorry. It was rude of me to say those things to you, and I didn't mean them."

She stood there, her back to the counter, and stared at him until his skin felt hot and itchy. What was _with _this girl? It was like creepiness was her super power. Finally she cocked her head to the side and frowned. "Were they true?"

Wally jerked backward in surprise. "What?"

"The things you said… do you think they were true?" The microwave beeped that her water was done, and she turned around to remove the mug. "After all, Starfire is very pretty… I imagine I pale in comparison."

Wally was confused. He was no stranger to the mind games girls played: do I look fat in this? I'm so ugly! No one _really _likes me. But, this question didn't feel like one of _those _kinds of games, and she didn't feel like she was fishing for compliments. She seemed genuinely curious about what he thought about her. "I don't think so."

"You don't _think_ so?" Raven chuckled and dropped a teabag into the steaming water. It fizzled and popped for a moment before sinking to the bottom. "Is that an opinion or are you just trying to skirt around the question?" She glanced over her shoulder at him and smirked. "I have been called _many _things, Wally… your insult was just another."

Now Wally _really _felt bad. He shouldn't have teased her. He was supposed to be good and uphold the law and justice, and whatever heroic bullshit was in his job description, but he couldn't even control his own temper? And he'd hurt someone's feelings in the process. It didn't matter how tough she thought her skin was, the point was that he couldn't keep himself in check. Ugh. He was such an idiot. "I didn't mean to say you were unattractive… That just kind of came out wrong… I actually think you're kind of pretty." Was it his imagination or was she blushing? "I'm just… upset."

"That we're here?" Raven finally turned around and looked at him. Her eyes brushed across his face as if searching for something. Wally took a step back, trying to avoid her stare, but the darkness didn't seem to hide him. She blinked a few times before leaning back on her heels. "You think we're here to replace your team, don't you?"

Wally suddenly felt very sheepish. "No. Yes… I…" He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "To be honest, I'm just _nervous _around other superheroes our own age." There was a long pause and her curious stare urged him to continue. "We tried to have Speedy join our team and he refused, and not two months later he was easily replaced by Artemis. As if he never existed. It… it made me feel like we were all disposable. That we could be replaced as soon as we needed to be." He sighed and shook his head. "I guess it's kind of a stupid thing to be upset about."

"Yes… and no." Raven dropped a spoon into the mug and swirled the contents around. "Your fears have some merit, but you're not _disposable_. More like… _promotable_. If we were to take your mantle here, do you think that the Justice League would simply forget about you? Odds are that they'd find a better position for you within their rankings." She gave him another awkward smile, this time it looked a little sad and broken. "You have people looking out for you, Wally. People who care about what happens to you. If you're in need, they aren't going to ignore you."

Wally hadn't really thought about it like that, and now he felt a bit stupid for not realizing it before. Even though he might have to leave the team or get moved around, there were people looking out for him. People trying to help him make the best decisions. And that was a lot more than most people had.

He glanced at Raven, whose face was blank, and felt another surge of guilt. He really _was _a douche. Here he had forgotten about all the people who loved and looked out for him and he had completely forgotten that Raven and her team had _no one_. Like Robin said, they weren't associated with the league, and so they didn't get their guidance and protection. They had to figure everything out on their own, including how to properly battle Deathstroke.

"I'm sorry… for everything."

Raven snorted into her tea and looked up at him. "That is a lot to be sorry about, and not all of it is your fault, Wally." She smirked up at him. "Why don't you choose one thing to be sorry about, and we'll take it from there?"

He felt his lips twitch in an effort to smile. There was something kind of _funny _about her dry sense of humor. Wally had always been a slap-stick kind of guy, but the subtle nuances in her tone, the turned eyebrow, the sarcastic (and almost true) comments made him fight laughter. "I'm sorry for the things I said before. I didn't mean them, and I didn't mean to embarrass you."

"Apology accepted." She moved toward the edge of the kitchen and stopped abruptly, staring into the darkness. There was a long pause before a quiet curse spilled from her lips. Wally cocked his head to the side and watched her with mild curiosity. She glanced back at him. "Can you show me back to my room? I can't remember how to get back there."

Wally snickered. "_Really_? Of all the things that could happen, you get _lost_?"

An eyebrow peaked and she stared at him. "I would be careful of who you make fun of, Wally. And furthermore, it's not _my fault_ you have a labyrinth for a lair."

"Lair? You're calling Mount Justice a _lair_?"

Raven stopped walking and turned to give him a deadpanned stare. "You're half submerged underground, surrounded by rock, and cut off from the normal world. That's not _just _a lair, that's one step away from mad scientist lair."

"Mad scientist?" Wally laughed and shook his head. "I'd say more like disgruntled troll."

"Well… if the shoe fits…" Raven cocked her head to the side and smirked.

Wally's face fell and he rolled his eyes. She was _really _good at teasing people, and that was supposed to be his job. He wore that badge with honor and pride, but Raven just seemed to tease naturally, and he wasn't sure how he felt about that. And in spite of her efforts to calm his concerns with their _actual _mission here, Wally still felt a bit like he was left out, or that he was being replaced.

Raven seemed to sense his trepidation, and reached out to pat his shoulder. The gesture felt weird and awkward coming from her, as if she was doing it because that's what she _should _have done. "Wally, I'm flattered you think us capable enough to have your job, but I'll be perfectly honest… I have my own problems to deal with. I don't need your problems here, nor do I want them. The truth is exactly what we told you before. We simply _do not _have the strength alone to fight Deathstroke and Lex Luthor. You and your team is incredibly lucky in what you have, do not think that we are here to upset that."

Wally stared at her shape in the darkness, watching the shadows on the wall stretch to touch her. She was _peculiar_, that was for sure, and her words felt honest, but… still… there was something _off_ about her. Something inside her triggered Wally's flight-or-fight response and set him on edge. Was she lying about taking their place? Maybe she _really did_ want their position, and she was just pretending she didn't. Maybe she was trying to prove she was better than him.

Maybe they all were.

Raven sighed and looked up at him blankly. "You're not going to trust me no matter what I tell you… isn't that the truth?" She stopped outside the door to the room her and Starfire were sharing, and the quiet of the hallway was drowned out by the sound of Starfire's powerful snoring. "I could tell you we have no powers at all and we're a traveling circus with a vendetta against cheese, with _no _interest in the Young Justice and you _still_ wouldn't believe me." She shook her head. "I'm sorry you don't feel like you can trust me."

Wally cringed and he took a step back from her. "Me too."

"Mm…" There was a sudden change in her expression, and something about the quick movement of her lips and eyes told Wally that she'd been hurt. She looked up at him with a nearly blank stare and moved toward the door. "Well, I appreciate you showing me back to my room. I suppose I'll see you in the morning. Good night."

Wally couldn't find his voice in enough time to tell her the same, or maybe his heart just wasn't in it.

)O(

_So… there it is. Take it with a grain of salt and let me know how you feel. I hope to have the next chapter out soon, but I can't make too many promises. Thanks again!_


	3. Chapter Two

**Replacement  
><strong>Chapter Two

)O(

Raven sat in the window seat, leaning against the plastic walls of the cabin, and staring out the window, watching the dark expanse of sea below her as if it was the most interesting sight in the world. Wally was beginning to understand that she didn't like a whole lot of social interaction, either one-on-one or in a group setting. She hadn't joined in on breakfast, barely nodded a greeting to Aqualad when he returned from Atlantis, and hadn't said much of anything to the Young Justice, except maybe Wally. The only time she ever said something, it was about their mission, and that was no way to build a friendship.

Man, he had _seriously_ fucked up that whole friendship thing.

"Order your thoughts, Wally." She turned to face him, eyes dark. "I'm already bombarded with three hundred other passengers' emotions, you shouldn't be one of them."

He sighed and leaned back into his seat, paging through the SkyMall in his seat pocket. "It's not _my _fault M'Gann couldn't get the BioShip to hold all ten of us. And that stupid Batman wants us to be as low profile as possible." He glanced across the rows to see Starfire and Robin chatting up a storm. Lucky bastard. At least he got to have a _real_ conversation with a _real_ girl, and not whatever the heck Raven was.

"No, it's not." Raven returned her stare to the window, lips tugging down into a frown. "But it _is _your fault for being so… emotional."

He snorted and rolled his eyes. "Well, _excuse me_ for being normal."

"I'm trying, but you make it so difficult." Her eyes flitted to their teammates for a moment, before turning back to him. "Sorry I'm not enchanting or feminine enough for you. I'll make a note of that for any future missions."

Wally cringed. Empath. He needed to start remembering she was an _empath_. "You're rude."

"_I'm _rude?" She turned to him and barked out a shred of humorless laughter, her eyes filled with several unrecognizable emotions. Not good. Wally _really _needed to watch what he said to people, especially her. "Coming from the man who thinks I'm out to undermine his team… I cannot _believe _that you think I'm rude."

Wally, rather than be the bigger man and step down from the argument, became defensive. "Yes, you're rude. You infiltrate my team, you read my thoughts, _and _you've been picking fights with me. All of that pretty damn rude in my book." Okay, some of that was a little stretched, but this girl was getting on his last nerve.

"Sorry I'm a nuisance." Raven's lips twitched into a frown. She reached up and turned off her reading light, bathing her in a weird, diffused glow from the other passengers' lights. "Next time we fight to save the world, I'll make sure to keep all my faults in check for you." She turned away from him, and closed her eyes. "I'm going to sleep. Please leave me alone for the rest of the trip."

Wally winced and stared at her face, feeling guilt rise into his chest. He shouldn't be so damn _hard _on her. The Teen Titans were just trying to do their job, and it wasn't their fault that they weren't strong enough to fight Deathstroke on their own. He should have been more receptive and more sympathetic to the team, but there was something inside Raven that set him on edge. That cool calmness, the quick, snide remarks, the stoic pragmatism… something about _all _of that made him feel uncomfortable and _itchy_, and his first instinct was to run from her.

Of course, there was nowhere to run to on a plane several _thousand _feet in the sky.

Wally sighed and settled back into his seat, staring at the weird pattern on the seat fabric in front of him. Just forty eight more hours and then this mission would be over. The intel would be collected, Wally would be done with Raven, and everyone would be free to go their separate ways. And he would never have to see her again, thank _God_.

Although…

He glanced over at Raven and frowned. Something in his chest seemed to twist and tangle as he thought of never seeing the Titans again. Okay, they were annoying, disorganized, and had no leadership from any of the League… but at the end of the day, they were the Young Justice's peers and comrades-in-arms. And, aside from Raven and all her odd character traits, the rest of the team was pretty okay to be around. Beast Boy could be _kind of _funny, Cyborg was crazy smart when it came to pretty much _anything_, and Starfire was nice to look at.

"Wally?"

Speaking of which…

He jerked and stared up at the tall, slender girl next to him. She flashed him a too-bright smile and cocked her head to the side, hair falling softly over her shoulder. "I wish to sit next to my friend Raven for a little bit, if you do not mind." Her voice dropped to a whisper and she leaned close to his ear. "And Robin wishes to discuss some important things with you. About the mission."

"Oh." He stood up and slid into the aisle. "Be my guest."

"Thank you!" Starfire dropped into the seat and started chattering on to Raven, who opened one eye and stared at her. Finally, both eyes opened and she looked up at Wally with an expression that sat somewhere between pleading and resentful. He just waved and walked down the aisle towards Robin, hearing a quiet curse drop from her lips. Serves her right for reading his emotions without his permission.

"Hey, Wally."

Wally dropped into the seat next to Robin and let loose of a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. There was a long pause before he stared at his friend. "Please tell me we're almost there… I don't know how much more of that girl I can take."

"Who? Raven?" Robin shrugged. "She seems nice. Quiet, but nice. She's got a lot of really good tactical ideas."

"She's _rude_ and _mean_." Wally leaned back into the seat and grumbled under his breath. "And she keeps feeling my emotions. Do you know how annoying that is to have someone keep feeling your emotions and then telling you to stop feeling? Well, I'm _sorry _I think she's annoying, but it's not my fault she can feel it. Maybe she should stop barging in on my brain."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Dude, are you done? You've been complaining about her since last night." Wally jerked in surprise. Had he really been complaining _that much_ about her? Sure he'd made a few quips here and there, but for a whole day? That wasn't like him at all. Robin rubbed his forehead in annoyance. "Look, I _know _you don't want to help them, but in case you haven't noticed we're on a plane to Taipei, I don't think we have much of a choice anymore. We're helping them, whether you want to or not."

"I never said I didn't want to help them." Wally frowned at his friend. He wasn't _that _mean. Okay, he was suspicious and kind of irritated with the Teen Titans, but that didn't mean he didn't want to help them. He just wanted some normalcy back in his life. "I'm just upset that everyone was paired up with someone… _normal_ and I got stuck with her."

Robin snorted. "_Normal_? What part of any of us is _normal_?"

Wally shrugged. Okay, that was a good point, but that still didn't mean he wasn't jealous. After all, Robin got to spend his time chatting it up with a hot, redheaded alien. _Wally_ got the creepy goth girl, because he just _lucked out_. "It's just not fair that you get to be with Starfire on this mission."

"Seriously?" Robin rolled his eyes. "_That's_ what you're upset about? Starfire might be cute, but she's a lot of work to keep in check. She's got super alien strength and wants to touch anything fluffy. I basically had to tackle her in the airport to keep her from stealing some poor kid's stuffed animal. And she's _smart_. Like, can-quote-relative-theories kind of smart, and she can prattle on about the effects of gamma waves of the fabric of space-time like she's discussing a romantic movie. _That's _annoying. Do you know how _dumb _she makes me feel?"

Wally snorted. "Well, at least _someone _can knock you down a few pegs."

"Stop being an asshole." Robin glanced over at the two girls and shook his head. "I'd give anything not to have to babysit an alien who could disembowel me with flick of her wrist." There was a long pause and he looked back at Wally. "She can't be _that _bad. And, besides, Cy told me that Raven's the toughest fighter out of all of them, and you're lucky to have her as your teammate."

"_Her_?" Wally snorted and glanced across the plane to Raven. She was gritting her teeth as Starfire animatedly talked her, waving her hands and shouting on occasion. They were an _odd _pair of friends. He turned back to Robin and shook his head. "She's about two inches above being considered a midget and has the muscle mass of a twig. She can't be _that_ tough."

"Strength isn't always skin and bones."

"Awe, that's nice… the Bats tell you that one?"

Robin flushed and rolled his eyes again. "Seriously, dude… stop being an ass." There was a long pause between them, and Robin sighed. "I'm serious though, Wally. You need to be nicer to her. The mission will go a lot smoother if you two would just get along."

"Jeez, you sound like a mother hen." Wally stood up and stretched, glancing around the plane at the other sleeping passengers. It had to be at least another seven hours before they landed, and he needed rest and calories if he was going to be on his A-game in Taipei. "I better get back to my seat before the air-marshal starts thinking we're doing something weird."  
>Robin smirked up at him. "You just want to avoid the fact that I'm right."<p>

"Stop being such a brat." Wally rolled his eyes and started for his seat. Starfire seemed to sense him coming, and she quickly finished her story with Raven before standing up. Her arms wrapped around his midsection and squeezed the breath right from his lungs. No wonder Raven steered clear of her! She could kill you with a _hug_.

"Thank you very much, Friend Wally!" She let go and Wally managed to grab a few, deep breaths of precious air. "Oh, it was most enjoyable to spend time with Raven!"

Wally, who was doubled over still trying to breathe, looked from Starfire to Raven and back again. Raven was hiding a smirk, but she kept quiet. Cheeky girl. He smiled at Starfire and managed to pull himself upright. "Sure. Don't worry about it. I'm glad you two had fun."

Starfire ran off towards Robin and Wally flopped back into his seat. "Is she always like that?"

"She's holding back because there are humans here." Raven chuckled, which was slow and deep. Almost husky. Wally felt shivers run down his spine at the sound. "Normally she'd be much louder and giddier… if you can imagine that."

No, he couldn't. That was just too scary a thought. Raven took a deep breath and let it out slowly, glancing over at Robin and Starfire. She had taken to resting her head on his shoulder as she slept, and Robin's face burned a bright red in response. Lucky bastard.

"So, what did he want?"

Wally glanced over at her and shrugged. "Just to tell me to keep it together, this mission is important." Well, that wasn't _exactly _a lie. Right?

"I don't need you to baby me, Wally." Raven's eyes slid close and she leaned against the window again, adjusting herself for sleep. "I know you don't like me, and I understand why. You don't need to pretend to make me feel better. We're adults, we can agree to disagree and move on with our lives."

"That's not it." Wally sighed and rolled his eyes. It was going to be really annoying if she was always this _damn_ perceptive about him.

"Oh?" Raven smirked, but her eyes didn't open. "So, our conversation the other evening wasn't true?"

He leaned back into his seat and watched her. "I'm _suspicious _of you, but that doesn't mean I _hate _you."

Raven's eyes slowly opened and she looked at him for a long while. Wally fidgeted under her gaze, it felt a bit like she was taking apart his soul and slowly piecing it back together, trying to understand what made him tic. She sighed and cocked her head to the side in frustration. "In spite of everything I told you last night. You're still suspicious of us?"

"Yes." Wally saw a strange emotion flash across her eyes before disappearing. It looked a bit like pain. He cringed. Sometimes, he just needed to swallow his pride and listen to Robin. He really _did _need to be nicer to her. "But I don't _want _to be."

The silence between them turned thick, and Wally watched a small, almost seductive smile pull across her lips. Not for the first time, he was drawn to the delicate slash of her mouth and he felt his tongue wet his lips before he could stop himself. Seriously, what was _wrong _with him?

"So don't be. It's that easy."

"Give me a reason to trust you." Wally nearly choked on his own tongue. _That _was stupid.

Raven just chuckled and pressed her face closer to his. Her smile had morphed from seductive to sinister, and she dropped her voice to a whisper. "I'm not killing you right now… isn't that enough?"

Wally stared into her eyes, trying desperately to not notice that she smelled like fresh lavender and black tea. Instead, he was trying to focus on the fact that his life was in _serious _danger, and if he didn't choose his next words carefully, he was _dead_. Or worse, _castrated_. "Yes… yes it is."

"Good." Raven slid back into her seat and closed her eyes.

Wally breathed a sigh of relief, glad to know he had cheated death, at least for a little while.

)O(

Raven wrapped both hands around her tea cup and stared at the unassuming two story building down the street. Pressed against its concrete sides, were ordinary houses with small families, some shops, and a few restaurants. The street was nearly empty, except for the occasional kid or the stray cat. It looked exactly like a suburb should look, so _why _did Lex Luthor have an ultra secure server out _here_ of all places? Why not somewhere where information was readily accessible and business prevalent? It just didn't make any sense.

"Weird." Wally was slurping noodles loudly next to her, and Raven fought against the urge to roll her eyes. If he didn't need those calories to function, she would have broken the bowl over his head already. "Why here… I mean… it's a _suburb_. You would think he'd want this information somewhere… I don't know, where things actually happen."

"I was curious about the same thing." Raven chewed on her lip and looked over at her temporary teammate. He'd been relatively civil since she threatened his life on the plane, and working with him had started to become _almost _enjoyable. Except for the snarky comments, and the incessant _slurping_. She sighed. "Do you have to be so loud?"

He shrugged. "No, but being quiet takes the fun out of it."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "It also makes you sound like a _human_, and not like an animal."

"Ha ha. Very funny." Wally rolled his eyes and dug out the last few noodles in the murky broth. He slurped them down and leaned back into his seat, staring at the building with Raven. "So, what's the plan then… we just wait until we see some massive explosion from downtown and hope that's Kal and Beast Boy?"

"No." Raven pulled her communicator from her sweatshirt pocket. "Cy made these up for us awhile ago. When Kaldur and Beast Boy set off the diversion it will trigger an alert on my communicator and we head in."

"Huh…" Wally picked up the communicator and examined it. "Cyborg made these? How long is their range?"

Raven raised an eyebrow. "All over the world, they're linked via satellite."

"That's cool…" He handed her communicator back to her, and shrugged. "M'Gann links us all telepathically, and it's useful… but it's got a limited range, and sometimes I _really_ hate sharing my thoughts with everyone, especially if we're all fighting at once. It gets distracting." He seemed to ponder something for a moment before looking back at Raven. "Plus, I really _hate _listening to Suberboy drone on and _on_ about protecting M'Gann, it kinda makes me sick."

"I can't imagine listening to a lover's tiff via telepathic link is any fun, or be useful during battle." Raven shuddered. The thought of sharing her mind with anyone made her ill, let alone her friends during the heat of battle. There were all kinds of skeletons locked in a closet for a _reason_, and her friends didn't need to know about them. Silence settled over them again. She took a long sip of tea and continued to stare out the window, waiting patiently for the communicator to go off.

"I'm sorry."

Raven jerked in surprise, nearly spilling tea over herself. She looked over at Wally, who was staring out the window as well, lips pulled down into a frown. He gave her a sidelong glance, and Raven felt something slither under her skin at the sight of his freakishly green eyes.

"I mean it…" He sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "I know I'm kind of annoying to work with, and I know I've been kind of mean to you lately… I just get worried about stupid shit. And you're at the center of my anger, but you shouldn't be. This isn't your fault… it isn't anyone's fault. And I've been stupid and selfish thinking you want my place… so, I'm sorry."

"Oh." Raven blinked at him, trying to keep herself from sounding shocked. It seemed like an impossible task. Wally had spent the last two days picking fights with her, so to have him suddenly apologize, and actually _mean it, _threw Raven off guard. "I… thank you? I guess I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything." Wally gave an awkward, one-shouldered shrug. "I just wanted you to know."

Raven opened her mouth to respond, but her communicator started flashing. She sighed and stood up, and Wally followed suit, the conversation fading into the severity of their current situation. This was not going to be easy or fun. "Come on, we're accessing the roof via two buildings down."

"Right." Wally held open the door for her and they slid into the night. In the distance, Raven could hear an explosion rattle the ground and surrounding buildings. A few people had poked their heads out of windows or doors and looked toward the sight of smoke spiraling from a building downtown. Whatever Kaldur and Beast Boy did, it worked. All eyes were turned toward the downtown area, including civilians and local police, and no one seemed to notice the pair of teens inching toward the unguarded, nondescript office building.

The two of them slid into a small alleyway a few buildings down from the office. The sound of far-away sirens echoed loudly in the tight space, reminding them that the clock was still ticking. It would only be a few more minutes before Lex Luthor turned suspicious and his eyes moved toward the other servers. Raven offered Wally her hand. "Come on, up to the roof."

Wally looked from her to her hand and winced. "I hate flying."

"It's _two stories_…"

He rolled his eyes. "It's the feeling of nothing solid beneath my feet, it makes me sick."

"Ugh…" Raven rubbed her forehead. "Will you just grab my hand and shut up? We're going to miss our opportunity if we don't act soon." She continued to stare at him until he slid his hand into her own, mumbling curses under his breath. His fingers were warm and a little calloused, and something about the contact made Raven blush and her heartbeat quicken. What was _wrong _with her? Furthermore, what was wrong with _him_? She never had this problem with Beast Boy or Cyborg…

Shaking her head of the thoughts, she whispered her mantra under her breath and flew them both to the roof. Wally suddenly looked a bit green and he sat down on the ledge of the roof to regain his composure. What a baby. "Suck it up, Wally, we don't have _time_. And shed your street clothes."

"I _know_." He stood up and began peeling off his clothes to reveal his uniform hidden underneath. "Jeez, Raven… you're so damn bossy."

"Well, _someone _has to keep you in check." Raven was about to make another snide remark, but it died on her lips as she looked over at him, undressing quickly. This was not the first time Raven had seen him in his uniform, and it wasn't her first time watching a boy undress (Beast Boy had a nasty habit of forgetting he lived with two girls), but that didn't make the situation any less awkward. And it certainly didn't keep Raven from casting sideways glances at him. He may have been annoying, frustrating, and a whole world of cocky and rude, but that didn't mean he wasn't shaped nicely.

_Very _nicely.

As a young woman, Raven was inclined to notice these things.

"_What_?" Wally crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her. "You're staring at me like you're going to rip my head off any minute." Well, that wasn't _exactly _the analogy Raven would have used, but it was fairly close. He shook his head and sighed. "Come _on_, you're the one that said we were running behind."

Raven winced as she was thrown, full force, back into the present. The mission. She had to focus on the mission, after all, that was the _whole _reason behind why she was stuck here, on a rooftop, at night with _Kid Flash_. She was trusted with an important job, and she couldn't keep her humanity in check. "Sorry, I was distracted for a moment." She shed the rest of her street clothes and motioned towards the office building, a few rooftops away. "After you."

"You first." Wally rolled his eyes and pointed to the sky. "Just fly and double check ground patrol and air patrol. Make sure we're not getting in over our heads and there aren't more guards than we can handle, okay?"

"Now, look who's being bossy?" Raven rolled her eyes again and took to the sky. The street was empty, the sidewalks around the building were empty, the sky was empty, and even the windows were empty. Not a light or shadow from a security guard or nighttime worker. There was_ no one_ there. A shiver ran down her spine as she stared at the dark windows, something felt _off _about this building. If this building really did house a super secret server like it was supposed to, shouldn't there at least be a security guard? Maybe even a video camera or two?

There was nothing, and that scared her more than a thousand security guards.

It just felt too easy, and something in the situation set Raven's teeth on edge. But, what choice did she have? She couldn't abandon an important mission like this, just because it _felt weird_. There was too much at stake, and she needed to complete this mission. She sighed and dropped down to the rooftop again. "We're clear."

Wally raised an eyebrow, suspicious. "Clear? As in…what? Is there one guard? Two? More?"

"There's none." Raven pushed hair out of her eyes and looked over at the building, still feeling uneasy. "Not even a video camera."

"Uh… and _that _doesn't sound kinda _weird_ to you?"

"Of course it does! But we can't mess this up, we've got _one_ shot before they move this server, so either we make the move now or we lose our opportunity all together. And I am _not _going to be the one explaining to the Justice League that we didn't complete our mission because it felt too easy." She poked a finger into his chest and crowded his space. "So, shut up and move it."

"You _are_ bossy." Wally didn't say anything else and jumped across the rooftops to the building. As soon as his feet touched the pebbled tar, Raven expected sirens to ring out across the night. But it stayed quiet and still, the only sound of chaos coming from the downtown area. It just wasn't _right_.

They entered the building with no problem, the roof access door wasn't even _locked._ And they strolled through empty offices and hallways. It was an office ghost town, filled with cubicles with no desks and no chairs, flickering, yellowing florescent lights, and the smell of old carpet and stale coffee. Most of the ceiling tiles had been stained, and a few of them had come down all together. At no point in the recent past had this building _ever _been used as an office, it was mean solely to house the server.

"This is really creepy…" Wally's voice was barely above a whisper, but it sounded like a shout in the emptiness of the building. "Like… _Night of the Living Dead_ creepy…"

Raven rolled her eyes. "We're not battling zombies, Wally. We're just here for the intel."

"I know." He shrugged. "But, that doesn't take away from the creepiness factor."

Raven couldn't argue that. She ignored his rambling and pushed between a set of steel doors, which led to an antechamber outside where the server was supposed to be held. The room was carpeted in black, painted in gray, and was the only room that _didn't_ smell thirty years old. Someone had been working here recently, but who and for what purpose?

"The server should be through the door." Raven pointed to a door at the end of the room. "We go, access the information, and leave. That's _it_. We have… maybe five minutes before Luthor starts securing all of his servers and we're locked out of the system and potentially found."

Wally paled slightly. "That can't be good."

"It's not. So, we have to work as quickly as possible to make sure that we can get out and stay safe." Raven took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "If you have any reason to panic, let me know and I'll make sure to get us out of here as quickly as I can. Okay?"

"Got it." Wally pushed open the door and led them inside. Towers upon towers of servers stood linked together in a forest, the connection cables twisting around them like vines on trees. Wally's face fell. "Holy shit… there's no way we're going to be able to get through this data quick enough. It'll take us at least a _year _to figure out what server we need to connect to."

"Cyborg already thought of that." She pulled out her communicator again and hooked it up to the nearest server. The screen lit up as it pushed a program into the servers, hunting for information. "He created a virus-like program that will sift through and attack any files that are excessively encrypted or coded as 'Top Secret'. These servers in this building should all be linked together, so it shouldn't take us more than a few minutes to locate and access the file."

"Well, we better do it quickly…" He shivered and looked around the room, coated in an eerie, blue light. "I've got a seriously bad feeling about being here."

"You're still trying to treat this like a monster movie, aren't you?" He shrugged in response and Raven rolled her eyes. "Well, stop it."

She turned away from him and watched her communicator, trying to locate any anomalies in the code that flashed across the screen. There wasn't a whole lot of useful information, and for the most part, it all seemed to be pretty boring info. Tax files, expense reports, rental contracts to buildings in cities all over the world, how much Lex Luthor took as his personal salary… wait… that wasn't right. She slid her fingers cross the buttons of her communicator, her stomach dropping to the floor.

That was _exactly _what Raven didn't want to find. "Wally… look at this… it's a list of some of the most notorious adversaries the Justice League ever faced."

"What?" Wally moved toward her side and looked down into the screen. Names upon names scrolled across the small display. Aliases, current locations, detailed notes on powers and vendettas. It was a spreadsheet for almost every known, live villain in the world. "Are you for _real_? There has to be over a hundred names of villains on this list, what would Luthor want with all of them? I mean, he doesn't even _like_ the Joker. At least… not that I know of."

"I don't know what this is for…"

"And you shouldn't."

Raven whipped around to find the cool, smooth blade of a sword pressed against her throat. Of course it was too easy, because Lex Luthor had hired the best security system available. Deathstroke. She stilled and stared up into his masked face, feeling the sinister smile slowly creep across his lips.

"Hello, little demon… it certainly has been a long time."

)O(

_So, there is chapter two. Once again, I'm not sure how well I proof-read this, but please leave a review. I love to hear your thoughts. _


	4. Chapter Three

**Replacement  
><strong>_Chapter Three_

)O(

Wally inched forward, hands tightening into fists. He needed to figure out how to release her, and get them the _hell _out of there. If Raven was injured, he wouldn't hear the end of it from Robin or Cyborg. He took another slow step, trying to keep in the blind-spot of Deathstroke's vision.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Deathstroke snarled at Wally and pressed the blade deeper into Raven's throat. The paper thin metal sliced into her skin, drawing a few drops of blood that slid down the edge of the blade. Wally froze in his spot, but Raven took a half step back, trying to remove the blade from her neck. Deathstroke barked out a shred of humorless laughter and followed her movements step for step. "Clearly you never learn, Raven… don't you still have a scar on your left shoulder from the last time we played this game?"

Wally's eyes darted to Raven, whose only recognition of the wound was a twitch of her lips and a quiver from her left shoulder. For the first time since meeting Raven and the Titans, Wally began to _finally_ understand exactly how dangerous Deathstroke was, and he shuddered to think how many more scars the long sleeves of her uniform hid.

Deathstroke turned and looked at Wally, who could feel the cold sneer from underneath his mask. "You two seem to find yourselves a very precarious situation. I never thought breaking and entering was your style, Raven… but then again, who am I to judge?"

"Why are you doing this? Why Lex Luthor?" Raven's mouth slanted down in a frown and she tilted her chin defiantly toward him. Wally had to fight back a curse. Didn't she know that she shouldn't egg on the man holding a_ deadly sword_? God, that girl was going to get _both _of them in trouble or killed.

Deathstroke laughed under the mask and pushed a little closer, pressing his face towards her own. "You think I would tell _you_ such a thing, Raven? Do you imagine this to be something out of a _comic_? Where I reveal my plan to you because I know you're going to die? You are so very jaded, little demon."

Raven frowned. "You don't _need_ Lex Luthor, Deathstroke. You can defeat us whenever you want. You've proven that on several occasions." She pressed herself against the blade, and snarled as more blood flowed down the curved edge. Wally thought he was going to have a heart attack, why in the world was she still egging him on? She had already made it perfectly clear to him how utterly _dangerous_ Deathstroke was, but here she was, _taunting_ him like it was some kind of game. And not once, but _twice_.

"And yet even when I win the battles, I somehow continue to lose the war. You pesky brats seem to thwart my every move, no matter what it is…" Deathstroke slid the blade up to her chin and shifted his feet. "You are wearing on my nerves and I am getting tired of this silly game, Raven. Drop the communicator, or die."

"I'd rather die." The air around her crackled and hissed, and Wally saw something he couldn't explain if he _tried. _Raven's body turned transparent and smoky, as if she were dissolving into mist. The shape of her slid around the edge of the blade, moving through solid objects as it they were made of nothing. Deathstroke didn't seem all that amused. He reached into her misted body and yanked hard.

Wally felt his bones nearly shatter under the sound of her scream.

"I believe I can help you with that wish."

Raven's body reappeared, this time with Deathstroke's arm halfway into her chest. He gave her a maniacal chuckle and tightened his grip. "It has been such a long time since I've had anatomy… but this is your lower rib… is that correct? You see, little demon, I've recently learned a little bit more about your very mysterious powers. You can't move through just _any_ object… you can only phase through inanimate objects, not organisms… So, if I grab you mid-transformation, you suffer consequences." He yanked again, and Raven screamed another blood curdling scream that echoed off the steel walls of the servers and rattled Wally's insides. "Isn't that right? It looks so very painful."

Wally felt rage rise into his chest and stain his vision. What was _wrong _with him? Why couldn't he find the strength to save his friend? His fists shook next to his side and he tried to take another step toward her, but Deathstroke snapped and snarled at him again.

"Do you think you can _save _her, Kid Flash?" Deathstroke threw Raven into a wall and she screamed. Bones cracked and organs squished, and Wally could see into Raven's body. Half of her midsection was now exposed through a fist-sized hole. Blood poured from the new wound and spilled onto the ground, pooling around Raven as she fought for consciousness and life. "She is beyond saving. Beyond _help_. She is a _demon seed_, and she serves no other purpose than being a portal for her father."

Raven's eyes closed and she winced. "_That _has nothing to do with this battle, Deathstroke. Do not bring my heritage into this."

She was gasping for breath, wheezing and spitting blood. Wally's chest tightened and twisted with unbridled anger, and there was no chance of stopping it. Not against _Deathstroke._ That _bastard_! "I don't fucking care if she's _Satan's _spawn, she's still my friend!" He felt his legs move violently across the floor as he moved to strike Deathstroke. His fist connected with the mercenary's face, and he teetered backwards a few steps, stunned by the force. Wally managed to get a few solid hits in, but Deathstroke seemed to learn his movements, and started to block his attacks.

"Well… how interesting for me." Deathstroke touched his jaw gingerly, as if feeling for a wound. "I didn't know you could be so _dangerous_, Kid Flash. I would have thought that you were… rather useless."

Wally snarled. "Shut the fuck up." He moved to strike Deathstroke again, but he moved too quickly, and Wally found himself pressed against the tip of a sword.

"You make this such an interesting game, little boy." He snarled at Wally and sheathed his sword. To anyone else it would have looked like he was surrendering, but Wally knew better. He was just teasing both of them. There was enough raw power in one of his fingers to bring down the whole building. "Tell you what. I'll be… _generous_ with you. I'll give you a head start. Ten seconds."

Wally panicked. Ten seconds was plenty enough time for himself… but Raven… he looked down at her, shaking, bleeding, drifting in and out of consciousness. The extra weight would slow him down, and his ten seconds wouldn't be much of an advantage. Deathstroke knew that, he was testing him, trying to see what decision he would make. Save himself? Save Raven?

There was no decision to be made. He would save Raven if it was the _only _thing he did.

"One."

Wally ran and picked up Raving, trying desperately to not jar her wound. She cried out and clung to him as he hefted her into his arms. Deathstroke seemed intrigued, but he didn't move.

"Two."

He ran. He ran as fast as he could, ignoring the hiss of sadistic laughter as he sped away from the building. This was _beyond _dangerous, and Deathstroke wouldn't let them have the lead for long. He would track and follow them, no matter where they went. Think, Wally, think! He couldn't lead Deathstroke back to the hotel, there were innocent civilians there. He couldn't lead him back to the others, not when everyone was split up and vulnerable. And he _certainly _couldn't lead him to a hospital… fuck! What was he supposed to do? Raven was going to die if he didn't figure something out soon.

"Wally…" Raven's hands tugged at his suit, her fingers weak, and he glanced down at her. She looked so small in his arms, almost like a child, and he felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility. He needed to protect her no matter what the cost was. "I can heal myself. I just… I need some place safe… and quiet."

"I…" Wally tried to read her face, but even in the shadow of near demise, she was unreadable. Could she really do that? Could she _really _heal a wound that would have killed anyone else? A shiver ran down his spine as he thought about what Deathstroke said. Was she really a demon? And did it matter to him? Wally shook his head of the thoughts, she was _his friend_. He needed to keep her safe, just like she asked. "Safe… okay… safe…. I can do that… I hope…"

"Don't panic, Wally…" Her eyes closed and she leaned against his shoulder, burying her face into the crook of his neck. Wally felt his stomach drop as her lips brushed against his skin. "If you panic, you'll drop me, I know it."

He frowned and stared down at her again. Was she _seriously_ making a joke right now?

Safe house! There was a safe house in the jungle about thirty miles out of town. His uncle showed him once when they were going over escape routes. It wasn't much more than a concrete hole in the ground with a few medical supplies and MREs, but it was hidden and had a security system that would keep even God himself out. That's what he needed. He just had to make it there before his body gave out.

And before Raven's body shut down.

Buildings and concrete slowly gave away to trees and underbrush. The stench of motor oil and cheap street food was replaced by the moist, hot smell of earth and vegetation. He couldn't hear or feel the pursuit of Deathstroke, but that didn't mean he wasn't behind them, slowly stalking his prey. He had proven just how dangerous and deadly he could be, and this "head start" wasn't doing Wally much good. But he would take whatever he could at this point. It would still be a few more minutes before he reached the safe house, he just needed his body to keep running, and he needed Raven to hold on.

"I… I'll be okay for a little while longer…" Her eyes opened and she forced a smile up at him. "Just keep moving, Wally. You'll be fine… I promise."

"How…" He winced as she tapped the side of her head. Right. _Empath_.

Jungle pressed around them and Wally had to be careful of his steps. One wrong move and he would send them both tumbling, and while that wasn't a huge deal for him, Raven would have probably perished if her body was damaged anymore. Wally glanced down at her again, trying not to feel the sticky wetness of her blood seeping through his uniform. _How? _How was she going to survive this?

"Just a little… further…" His legs were starting to slow, feeling more like lead weights than limbs, and Raven suddenly felt as if she weighed five hundred pounds. He couldn't stop, not yet. He stumbled, and under his feet he felt the "thunk" of something mechanical under a fallen log. Trick hatch.

He breathed a sigh of relief and pulled. There was a snap and the hiss of compressed air as the hidden access opened. Thin, yellowish light spilled from the hatch and Wally walked down steps, careful not to drop Raven. The lights flickered on and he tried to give Raven a reassuring smile, but he knew it must have looked more like a grimace. It didn't matter how tough her teammates or herself thought she was, there was no way Raven would survive this. "We're here."

"Good…" Raven winced.

"Entering… Kid Flash and… unknown." The computer's cold, steely voice broke the thick silence in the room, and Wally turned to look at one of the monitors, which had started flashing red. "Recognized as a potential threat. DNA analysis reports half-demon, half-human. Code red." Wally cringed, he'd forgotten that Deathstroke had told him her heritage. Was she really all that dangerous? In her current state, Raven didn't even look like she could land a punch, let alone be a portal for pure evil. But then again... he stared down at her and shook his head free of any traitorous thoughts. It didn't matter, his friend was in trouble.

"Are you really… half-demon?"

"Wally…" She gave a sick, wheezing sigh, then winced with the movement on her wound. "Of all the things you could ask me about right now… that has to be one of them? Can you please focus, and try to override the security system, or your computer is going to attack me. And I can't take anymore wounds."

"Right." Wally rattled off his JLA authorization code, and cleared off the security threat, but he knew the incident had already been filed in the main JLA database, and anyone who wanted to see it could. Wally pondered the computer system for a moment. It called her "unknown" … Robin was right, the Teen Titans had no files with JLA, no mentors… so how could Raven have become so strong? How had any of them become what they were?

Raven winced again, and she twisted in his arms. Focus, Wally. Raven was in danger. He moved to the small cot in the room and laid her down on the white covers, staring down at her sallow, pale face, twitching in pain. Her wound was still gaping open, spilling blood onto the sheets, and Wally was almost positive he could see some of her organs. He shuddered and took a step back, trying to give both of them space. "Raven, you can't heal that."

"I can… it just takes time." She popped one eye open and forced a fractured smile, which did absolutely _nothing _to ease Wally's fears. "My heart and mind is still intact, as long as I can keep a grip on consciousness, I can heal almost anything."

"You're missing a rib!"

"It's just a bone… now shut up, I need to concentrate."

Wally sat there in silence, too stunned to say anything else. Just a _bone_? She was missing a rib! Wally could almost see into her chest cavity! And here she was playing it off as if this was no big deal! She was wheezing a spitting blood like she was on her deathbed, but it was okay, because if she just "concentrated" she could heal herself. Wally pinched the bridge of his nose and sat down in a chair next to her. "I can't believe you're so… _okay_ with all of this."

Raven shifted. "I'm not okay with being potentially mortally wounded."

"You keep sounding like you are." Wally's head tilted back and he stared at the ceiling, feeling exhaustion slip into his limbs and joints. He pushed his body too far tonight. It would take him hours before he could recoup, and he wouldn't be able to protect her until he was back at full strength. There were like sitting ducks, waiting for the hunter to come by and shoot them out of the water. _Great_.

"We'll be fine, Wally…" Raven wheezed out another sigh. "You've helped me so much… I can't… I…" She winced as her body rebelled against the wound. Her good hand reached out and touched his knee. He looked into her eyes and felt his stomach drop again. What in the _world _was this girl doing to him? Was it because she was a demon? "Thank you. For everything."

Wally felt a smile peel across his lips before he could stop it. "That's a lot to be thankful for, why don't you choose one thing to be thankful for and we'll go from there."

Raven gave a breathless laugh. "Cheeky bastard."

"That's part of my job." He leaned over her and pushed hair out of her eyes. The touch felt strangely intimate and something inside him jumped with the contact. Wally pulled away, trying to remember that she was an empath, and if his thoughts wandered too much, she would know. And _that _could more dangerous than fighting Deathstroke.

"Can I ask you for something?" Raven's voice was barely above a whisper, and her breathing sounded more labored than normal. Wally nodded slowly, not saying a word, but watching as a new shade of red erupted across Raven's face. "Can you… can you help me undress?"

"What." His question came out as more of a shocked statement. In any other situation with any other girl, Wally wouldn't have hesitated in saying yes. But watching _this_ girl (who might or might not be his friend), lay on her deathbed and ask that question, somehow took the magic out of it. He knew the request was out of necessity and not fantasy, which totally sucked. "Are you _serious_?"

"Look… I'm worried that my uniform is going to get in the way of healing. I just… I just want some help taking it off." Her eyes narrowed and she gave him her best deadpanned stare. Even this close to death she was still scary. "I could actually _die _if you don't help me. I'm missing a rib, have three other ones that are broken, and I'm pretty sure he nicked a few vital organs. So, can you pretend to be mature for thirty seconds?"

"Jeez…" Wally stood up and leaned over her, his fingers moving to unsnap her cloak. He could do this, he just had to make it a joke. Make it funny. Once the humor was taken out, he would quickly realize how _serious _and _intimate _this situation was. "Dramatic much?"

"I swear, Wally West…" Raven closed her eyes and muttered curses under her breath. "Once I'm better I will send you to another dimension and let you fend for yourself."

"You can't do that… can you?" Wally gently pulled the cloak from under her body and watched her face. Her lips twitched, but she gave no other indication of her intentions. How had he managed to get paired with _her_? "Really, Raven? Can you?"

"Try me and find out." Raven pushed herself up on her forearms, letting out a cry of agony as her wound twisted. "There's a zipper in the back, please hurry… this hurts."

Wally unzipped her quickly, and helped her lay back down on her back, careful not to jar her wound. His hands moved to her shoulders and he slowly peeled the neoprene from her skin, staring at her neck and shoulders. She was _covered _in scars, and her pale body was coated in damage from her profession. There was something both beautiful and sad about it. Wally's hands stilled, leaving her uniform half removed, and he reached out to feel one of the scars near her clavicle. Raven didn't even flinch when he touched her.

"Bank robbery… a stray bullet nicked my right shoulder." Her eyes met his and she reached out and touched his hand, moving it to a gnarly looking scar on her left shoulder. She guided his hand from her back to front, where the scar ended right above her left breast. "You were curious about this one earlier."

The joke and humor vanished, and suddenly Wally was staring into the face of severity, trying to keep his cool. "Is this… it this what Deathstroke tried to do to you?"

"Mm… I was in the same situation before. Only Starfire stood were you did… I had to make a choice and let myself get hurt, giving her time to escape, or run away by myself and leave her alone." Her eyes closed and Wally continued to trace the scar, intrigued by the jagged shape. "There was no choice to be made. I chose to taunt him, and he tried to cut off my arm."

It was a long moment before the full force of her words hit him. She'd been trying to protect him earlier. _That _was why she was egging Deathstroke on, and trying to provoke him. So he would have gotten upset with her and attacked, leaving time for Wally to escape. Why… why had she done that for him? He wasn't worth it! They weren't even really friends, right? They argued over everything, nagged at each other, fought like children, but Raven still put his safety above his own. Wally felt his heart twist and pull, and he had to look away to regain his composure. "You did the same thing today… didn't you?"

"Well… I tried… but your stupid ass decided to try and save me." She smiled and opened her eyes again. "For which I will be eternally grateful. He would have actually succeeded in killing me this time. And it really would have pissed me off if he won."

For once, her humor seemed lost on him. She was _dying _and yet still making jokes. Wally had no problem enjoying a little black humor sometimes, but she just took it to the next level. Acting as if her possible demise was somehow the funniest thing in the world. He sighed and pulled the rest of her uniform off her, gingerly avoiding her wound. "You've got a peculiar sense of humor."

"That's something coming from _you. _Besides, I thought you liked my sense of humor." She smiled up at him, as if hiding a secret. "When I was teasing you on the plane, your emotions told me all kinds of interesting things."

Wally cursed under his breath. Did she have to make everything so _damn _difficult? "Will you _stop _reading my emotions?"

"Will you stop broadcasting them like a radio turned full blast?" Raven's smile vanished and she glared at him. Wally took a half step back, trying to keep out of her range of fire. "I'm _sorry_ that I can feel everyone's emotions. Trust me, I don't want it. I'm _trying _to block them out, but your emotions are particularly strong and volatile, and they're starting to affect me."

Wally stared down at her, frowning. "What does that mean?"

"It means your emotions are affecting my emotions and my decision making." That was still a vague answer and Wally looked away, deciding it was probably not a good idea to provoke her. She closed her eyes again, forcing out another sigh. "Now shut up, I need to concentrate."

Wally fell back into his chair and watched her, still feeling a little bit sour about everything. She kept reading his emotions, kept telling him not to feel, and told him that his emotions were affecting her. _How_? What emotions could Wally possibly have that would affect her? He sighed and shook his head, moving the chair so he could lean against the wall. This was one big, _fucking _mess.

Here he was trapped in a safe house with a dangerous half-demon, being hunted by a dangerous mercenary, and his friends were out in Taipei probably looking for him and Raven. She was half-dead, bleeding profusely from a huge, gaping wound, and Wally had no idea how to help her. Plus, she wasn't exactly the _easiest _patient to take care of. At least, not when she kept being rude and reading his emotions.

He glanced over at her, watching as her pale lips moved quickly, whispering a silent incantation. His eyes moved to her left shoulder, staring at the scar there. He immediately felt bad about all the things he said or thought about her. Yeah, she was creepy and dark, but she cared for her friends a lot. And this was not the first time she'd sacrificed herself to save someone else. She tried to save him, and he tried to save her, and they both did a half-assed job at it.

This was just great.

"He's going to track us." Raven's voice was barely above a whisper, and Wally's stare moved from her shoulder to her lips again.

"I know." He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, trying to ease the stress. "How long do you think we have?"

"A day at most." There was a weird sloshing noise, like a wet balloon being deflated, and Raven started wheezing again. Her breaths were shallow and thick, as if she was fighting for breath. Wally watched as her face became etched with pain, and he pushed hair out of her eyes again. "I can get us out of here once I've healed… but it could be at least another twelve hours before… I'm finished." She tried to cough, but the sound seemed to stick in her throat.

Wally moved his hand to her chest, feeling the rapid beat of her heart and the soupy feel as her lungs tried to grab breath. Raven didn't even glare when his fingertips brushed against her breast. "Are you… okay?"

"Fine…" She winced and her good hand covered his own, fingers weaving in between his as she searched for some kind of support. Her grip tightened to the point where it felt like she might crush his bones. "I lied… I'm not okay. My left lung collapsed … I can heal it… but… I can't get air…" She struggled to grab a few more breaths of precious air, and her fingers tightened on his even more. "Can you help me?"

Wally felt something in his chest twist at the sight of her lying helpless and debilitated in front of him. She was stronger than this, braver than this, but every passing moment felt like she was slipping further away from life, in spite of all the things she said. "With your lung? What do you need from me?"

"I… I need you for force air into my lung… to reinflate it."

Oh. _Oh_. Wally's hand twitched, as if suddenly aware of the contact between them and he looked at her carefully. Well, _this _was going to be awkward. "Like… mouth-to-mouth?"

"Wally…" Her eyes narrowed at him. "Please don't make this anymore… difficult and awkward… than it needs to be." She moved his hand to the back of her neck and stared. "Push up on my neck… it'll open my air passage." Wally swallowed hard, and tilted her neck back, opening her air passage. This was a hell of a lot more intimate than he ever expected to be with her. "Now… place your mouth over mine… and breathe as hard as you can."

Wally looked down into her eyes, cringing as little as she closed her own eyes. Like this wasn't embarrassing enough. Thank _god _none of his teammates were here to see this. He leaned down over her mouth and pressed his lips to hers. For a few moments, he forgot that he was supposed to force breath into her lungs, and his sense of taste took over. She had the distinct flavor of tea and blood and darkness… it was morbid and beautiful at the same time.

Curious, his tongue slid over her skin and touched her lower lip, feeling a small scar at the corner of her mouth. All bets were off. Raven made a noise somewhere between a whimper and moan, and her good hand weaved into her hair, bringing him even closer. He nudged her lips open and slid his tongue inside, tracing the contours of her mouth, reveling in the taste of her.

Somewhere, in a magical place called "sanity", Wally's brain reunited with his body, and he began to realize the _severe_ repercussions of what he had just done. She was going to _murder _him. Why in _hell _was he doing this? And why in the world was she just letting him? Wally shook his head and pulled away to grab a breath of air.

"Stop." Raven moved her hand to his shoulder and pushed him farther away, glaring. "Stop feeding my emotions, Wally. Clearly you're clouding my decision making."

He stared at her, fighting for his own breath, but for a completely different reason. It was all, slowly making sense to him. His emotions were legitimately affecting her own, skewing all of her decisions just enough so that it wasn't always her making them. _That's_ what she meant when she said that his emotions were particularly strong and volatile. "I'm… I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Raven's face was unreadable as she removed her hand from his shoulder. Well, _that _was the most cryptic response he'd gotten out of her yet.

Avoiding her stare, he leaned down again and pressed his lips to her own. Raven gripped the bed sheet as she prepared for whatever torture came from this, and Wally suddenly felt bad that he had to put Raven through any more pain. Whispering another apology against her lips, he pushed as much breath as he could into her lungs. The reaction was instant, she coughed and groaned, and there was another sickening squish sound as the lung reinflated and began to work again. She forced out a series of disjointed curses and pushed him away from her.

"Great… I've just killed you." Wally ran a hand through his hair and stared at her.

"You can't kill me… not just yet anyway…" She forced a broken smile through her hacking. Wally let out a noise that was a mixture between irritation and relief, what was _with _this girl? And why did _she _keep affecting _him_? She grabbed his hand and stared up at him. "I have to kill you first."

Wally snorted and raised an eyebrow. "What for?"

"For seeing me half naked."

"I'm seeing more of your vital organs than your generous breasts." His face suddenly paled as he stared at his teammate. Had that _seriously_ come out of his mouth? Oh god. She was going to kill him as soon as she healed herself. That was the end of his life.

Raven rolled her eyes. "Well… it's nice to know you're so concerned."

"With your health or your breasts?" That's it. He had a death wish. That could be the only reason as to why his mouth kept talking without any thoughts on his own mortality. First on the plane, now here in the safe house.

"Seriously, Wally?" Raven's eyes closed and she let her head fall back onto the pillow. "How did you manage to survive as long as you did? I would have thought someone would have killed you by now."

"You'll be the first. My charm always saves me." He watched as a deep, blue glow emanated from inside her gaping wound. He could see the movements of her organs as they began to heal.

"Charm… what charm?"

"Hey… you let me kiss you."

Raven stared up at him, and to his surprise, she laughed. Then winced immediately as her wound was jarred. "I did let you kiss me. But I wasn't swayed by your charm."

"Then what?"

"You're actually… kind of a good kisser."

Wally felt his stomach drop to the floor. "Oh."

"Now, will you _please _shut up and let me heal?"

)O(

_So… yeah. I felt like this past scene came along a little too quickly, but it was somewhat necessary... but please let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!_


	5. Chapter Four

**Replacement  
><strong>Chapter Four

Raven felt her body shudder in the cool darkness surrounding her. She lay on the cot and stared at the ceiling, listening to the deep, even breathing from Wally, who, for all intents and purposes, was dead to the world. Somewhere outside she knew the sun had risen, and world was continuing on with its daily routine, but they were forced to sit here and wait for a moment to escape. What if that moment never came?

She brought a hand up to cover her face, mumbling a curse under her breath. What had they gotten themselves into? Raven swore that she would never find herself in that situation again, that she would stop Deathstroke before it ever happened again. But she didn't. And now Raven was severely injured and Wally had been pushed far past his personal limits. Something in her chest pulled tight as she turned and looked at him. He must have been exhausted, but she couldn't blame him. He managed to save both of them from certain death, he deserved a little bit of rest, at the very least.

Raven slowly sat up, feeling her joints crack and pop under the new pressure. Her body was still a little tender, and it didn't seem to move quite the right way, but it was going to have to do. They didn't have time to wait for her to be fully healed. If Raven knew anything, Deathstroke would have found them by now, and he would be waiting like a sleeping cobra for them to make the wrong move. But, if she was lucky, he wouldn't have found their trail just yet. She wouldn't hold her breath. The silence outside was just to coax them into a false sense of security. He was there.

She pushed herself off the cot and on to her feet, teetering slightly as her raw skin twisted and screamed with the new weight. Everything burned on her left side, her skin, her muscles, her organs, and even her new, lower rib felt like warm gelatin. She couldn't take much more damage, or her body would collapse in on its self, new organs and all. Then again, she didn't have much of a choice, it wasn't like she could wait around here forever.

Wally mumbled something in his sleep, and his head teetered to the side, exposing his face. For a moment he almost looked handsome and innocent, but she knew better. Behind that "Sleeping Beauty" look, the chaotic, reckless mind of Kid Flash still lived. Raven glanced down at her bra and panty clad self and felt embarrassment burn her face. That's _right_. In her pain-induced stupor she had asked Wally to help undress her. _Great_. Now, he was going to have the memory of her being mostly naked in front of him… and did she let him touch her _scar_?

Raven's heart skipped a few beats and her hand flew to the gruesome scar on her left shoulder, fingering the jagged edges. What the in hell was _wrong _with her? She didn't even let Cyborg touch her scar when it needed to be healed. It was precious to her, a reminder of sacrifices that needed to be made, but she let _Wally_ touch it…

That wasn't all that Wally touched.

"Fuck." Raven's fingers moved from her scar to her lips as she stared at his sleeping face. They _kissed_. And not just any kiss, something passionate and adrenaline fueled. He kissed like a Casanova, all lips and teeth and tongue, and tasted like a cold winter's wind. Raven took a few steps backward, her legs connecting with the blood-soaked mattress on the cot. What in the world was this… this… _boy_ doing to her? She didn't even _like _him! He was childish and volatile and impulsive. The world was a joke to him, and he was the one telling the punch line.

His fingers clenched in his sleep and he mumbled something else. Raven sighed and pressed a hand to her forehead. This was terrible. How could this have happened between them? Furthermore, how could she have _let _it happen?

Mumbling another curse, she pulled on the tattered remains of her uniform, hoping to find some dignity in this whole situation. It was hard. Of all the scenarios that had played out in her head last night, _that _was certainly not one of them. There wasn't even one _remotely _close to it. Death, capture, dismemberment, and explosions… but being half-naked and kissing the one person she found more annoying that _Beast Boy_? Nope. Not in an infinite amount of worlds did she _ever _expect that.

Raven hobbled to her cloak and fished around in the folds before pulling out the communicator. A sigh of relief passed through her chest. Well, one good thing came out of last night's debacle, they still had the documents from Luthor Corp. There was still some of the intel that they needed to gather.

"Running away?" He leaned back in the chair and stared at her.

Raven turned and looked at him, feeling color pass over her face. Why couldn't he have just stayed asleep? That would have made things far less awkward. "No." She held up the communicator and kept her face blank. "I managed to save the data we found last night. I wanted to make sure I logged it into JLA's database in case something happened."

"It's always work with you, isn't it?" He lifted his feet so they were propped up on the old, worn mattress. He pretended not to notice the blood staining most of it, but Raven could tell he was a little grossed out. "You can't just hang out and wait for the storm to pass?"

"The storm will never _pass_, Wally…" Raven sighed and pinched the bridge on her nose. _Really_? Of all the suitable candidates in the world, she let _him _kiss her? What in the world was she thinking?"He'll always be waiting for us. That's kind of his thing."

The air grew thick and a dark shadow passed over his green eyes, almost too fast for Raven to notice. _Volatile._ It didn't matter what kind of front he put on, there was still something subtly dangerous about him. Again, _why _did she let him kiss her?

He gave a nonchalant, one shouldered shrug, but there was still severity in his expression. "You've barely healed. Don't go throwing yourself in front of danger, Raven."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "We're heroes, Wally… that's what we do."

"Your rib still isn't healed completely."

Raven's lips twitched as she fought back the longest string of curses imaginable. How in the world had he noticed? She hadn't even moved since he woke up.

His lips twitched, as if he'd read her thoughts. "You're favoring your right side."

"Please shut up." Raven turned away from him and started to fidget with her communicator, trying to pull the hard drive from inside. Tacky remnants of her blood were jamming some of the access panels, and Raven wondered how much damage her communicator had suffered during the battle. "I don't need you telling me I'm over exerting myself."

"Sure, because you can see that all by yourself." He gave another shrug, but continued to watch her. Did he have to keep staring at her like that? "Are you okay?"

"_Fine_." Raven continued to tug at the access panel, pulling the pieces apart. "Cyborg made this damnable thing nearly unbreakable…" There was a snap and the back access panel came off, revealing the innards of her communicator. Raven bit back another curse. Most of the components were drenched with her blood. She'd be lucky if it could even connect to the other communicators, let alone access any saved data. _Great_. Just, _fucking_, great.

"Your blood is over _everything_, Raven." Wally finally stood up and walked toward her, looking at the remains of the communicator in her hand. "I mean… I didn't expect you to survive the night with everything you lost."

She looked at the dark stain on his uniform, the stain on the bed, and the stained components of her communicator and sighed. He was right, unfortunately. "That doesn't make me feel any better, Wally. Now you're just making me feel like an invalid who needed saving."

He rolled his eyes. "Sure. Whatever. Forget that you were the one who made it possible for me to escape with you." She could feel the indignant tones start to boil to the surface. It didn't matter how happy-go-lucky or laid back he tried to be, Wally was still dangerous.

Raven took a half step back to put space between them. Okay, how did she calm him down? She needed to stop his anger before it got out of control and started to affect her… much like last night's kiss. Oh, Goddess… why did she think about that? "Stop getting upset. It's not my fault we found ourselves in this situation. Neither of us were anticipating on Deathstroke being at that location, it was a mistake and we're lucky we didn't seriously get hurt."

"Didn't get hurt?" He forced out a bark of incredulous laughter and crossed his arms over his chest. A wave of cynicism and anger washed over her, and Raven hobbled another step back. The space didn't really help calm either of them down. "I'm sorry… did you just say that we're lucky neither of us got _hurt_? Because I'm pretty sure I remember him reaching into your chest, yanking out a rib, and nicking some organs? Oh, and then I seem to remember exhausting my energy to get us here so you could exhaust your energy to heal. Tell me, _Raven_, what part of that is considered _not getting hurt_?"

Low blow. The thick, slimy feel of his emotions wrapped around her heart, and Raven snarled, unable to stop herself from reacting. She pushed herself forward, pressing a little closer to him. "Are you arguing my ability to protect my friends and teammates? Are you questioning my capabilities of handling responsibilities?"

"No." Wally slid a few inches closer so that his nose almost touched hers. "I'm arguing your ability to see when we've taken too much. You need to rest and we need to get a hold of our friends. We _can't _face Deathstroke again like we are now. We need to retreat."

"I _know_ that, Wally." Raven pushed at his shoulders and he took at step away from her. "I _know_. But I also know that he'll be waiting for us. It doesn't matter if we're down here for an hour or a year. He'll _wait_. And he will not give us a 'head start' like he did before. There will be _no _escape."

"Then we fight."

Raven sighed and leaned against the table behind her, looking at him. His innocent delusions of heroics were almost cute, if they weren't going to get them both killed. "We fight? Weren't you the one who just told me that we're both exhausted of our powers? So how do we fight if neither of us has powers, and we cannot contact our friends?"

"Have strength and a little faith." He gave her that stupid, cocky smile and Raven wanted to punch him straight in the jaw.

"In case you forgot, Wally…" Raven let down her guard as her extra eyes glowed red at him. He stumbled backward again, and she gnashed her teeth at him. "I'm a _demon_, we don't exactly _do _the whole 'faith' thing."

"Well, you're scary enough just like that… Deathstroke might up and run away."

Raven returned to normal and she sighed, suddenly feeling exhausted. Sometimes it was like arguing with a brick wall. An extremely _stupid _brick wall. Her shoulders slumped and her head teetered back so she stared at the ceiling. "Is there ever going to be a time when you take things seriously?"

Wally shrugged and leaned back on his heels. "I don't know… Maybe?" There was a long, slow pause as she picked up her head and stared at him. He shook his head and laughed. "Probably not."

"So, how do you propose we go about this, then?" She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him, waiting for another stupid comment. "Just burst into the forest and hope he doesn't hunt us like lions hunt antelope?"

"Mostly. What other plans are there?"

"How about you take the chip and get the hell out of here before he finds you." Raven handed him the hard drive from her communicator. "Cyborg will be waiting at the hotel and he'll be able to extract the information from it."

"And leave you here to fend for yourself? Try again." Wally pushed the chip back toward her, clearly angry that she suggested that she put herself in front of danger again. But what was she supposed to do? There was no way that they were both going to escape. And there was almost no way she could fight in her condition. She would have just held him back. She knew that, why didn't he? At least if he had the chip, he could escape and give some purpose to this whole ordeal.

"I'm _fine _against him, Wally." That was a lie, but he didn't need to know that. "Just take the stupid chip and get back to the city. This is the whole reason we came out to Rhelasia and got ourselves in this mess. We can't give up now."

"Fine." He sighed, as if sensing her frustration, and took the chip from her, frowning. "I'll take the damn chip, but I'm not leaving you here to die, Raven. You're my teammate and my… friend… I guess. We don't let each other die because we have some important mission. What's important is our lives."

"Oh." Raven didn't quite know what to make of that. Was she really his friend? After all the arguing and death threats, after all the suspicion that he had for her, after everything that had happened in the past three days… did he really consider her a friend? And if he did, why?

"You're looking at me like I'm nuts." Wally frowned at her.

"That's because you are." Raven frowned and looked away, frowning. Whether or not she was his friend should be the last of her worries right now. She needed to focus on important things, like the fact that there was a dangerous mercenary lurking outside in the jungle waiting for them to make a mistake so he could kill them. She heaved a sigh, and then winced with the strain it put on her body. "So, what do you suggest we do? Just make a break for it?"

"I guess…" He caught her stare and shrugged. "I mean, what else is there to do? It's not exactly like we can make a plan for fighting a merciless killer, who happens to have some personal vendetta against you and your team."

Raven stared at him blankly. "You're an idiot, do you realize this?"

"Awe, come on, Rae…"

Raven felt something in her chest flare up at the nickname. Something that sat between embarrassment and pure, unadulterated evil. She glared and let her eyes glow red again. "Not funny. Next time you call me that _name_, I will rip your tongue from your mouth and feed it to Deathstroke myself. Am I clear?"

"Crystal." Wally swallowed hard and took a step back, careful with the space between them. "Sorry."

"Hm." Raven pushed past him and moved toward the stairs for door, feeling Wally follow carefully behind her, as if stepping on eggshells. Good. Maybe he'd actually _learn _something from this. Like, don't piss off the demon who could disembowel you with a flick of her wrist. That was a good lesson to learn.

"Come on, let's go." She started up the stairs, feeling her skin and muscles burn with every step. It was like torture, and her fingers wrapped tightly around the cold, steel hand rails, searching for support. This was bad. Her eyes closed and her movements stilled. She hadn't anticipated on her body being this raw and this weak. If she couldn't find the strength to move herself, how was she going to protect herself and Wally?

"This is stupid." Wally's hand closed around her wrist and she looked down at him, wincing with the movement. He frowned at her and shook his head. "You're not even able to walk up a flight of stairs. How are we going to make a break for it if your body is going to collapse in on its self?"

"It doesn't matter." Raven pulled her hand away from him and glared. "I'll be fine enough."

"You're going to get yourself killed." There was a long, heavy pause between them and Raven couldn't help but look into his eyes again. Freakishly green and stormy, and every inch closer to him made his emotions just that much stronger. Didn't he realize it? Didn't he feel what he was doing to her and her powers?

Raven's eyes slid closed and she took a deep breath, trying to calm the rapid vibrations coursing through her. It felt like her whole body was a tuning fork, just humming painfully. "I'll be _fine_. We don't have a choice right now. Either we stay or we run, and staying isn't exactly at option."

The slimy texture of his emotions rippled strangely against her heart, and she opened her eyes to look at him. He was frowning, and his eyes had darkened even more. He _knew. _Damnit. For playing the happy-go-lucky idiot, he was damn perceptive. It was going to be impossible to win any battle if he could see through her intentions.

"You plan on sacrificing yourself again. Don't you?"

Raven sighed and took another step to the door. "I plan on giving you a moment to run."

His emotions twisted again and he frowned. "Yeah. Don't."

"You don't get to make that decision."

"I think I do." Wally crossed his arms over his chest and stared up at her. "You're trying to protect my life, I think I have a say in what happens to it. And how your decision affects it."

Raven had the strongest desire to kick him down the stairs. Just one kick to the chest and he would have learned his lesson. It was so tempting… She frowned down at him, but he didn't seem to care about his imminent death. Stupid boy. "Your logic is somewhat flawed."

"So is yours."

Raven opened her mouth to respond with something witting and crude, but her words were cut short. The whole room seemed to vibrate with power and cracking energies, and the small, heavy access door flung from the hinges to smack both of them in the chest. Shock and pain coursed through her body as Raven and Wally went tumbling head-over-heels before landing in a broken pile on the other side of the room. Debris was still airborne, and crumbling down from the walls. Dust, dirt, and sparks threaded through the room, silhouetting the broad shouldered man filling the doorway.

"I'm quite sick of waiting for you two." He stepped down the stairs slowly, as if this were all a very amusing spectacle and he had all the time in the world to watch it play out. "The game was fun while it lasted… but alas, all good things must come to an end. And all people must die."

Raven pushed herself into a sitting position and fought with piece of a desk that was pinning her legs. It nearly crushed her right leg, and she was almost positive her ankle was sprained in the fall. She managed to push it off her and stand up, but it was hard to stay upright. Everything seemed a bit fuzzy around the edges, and somewhere in her peripheral vision she could see Wally's body sprawled out against the wreckage. Was he okay?

She would have to assume so for right now. There wasn't a whole lot of time to stop and check his vitals. Not when Raven was being slowly cornered by a deadly mercenary. She turned and looked at Deathstroke, whose eyes were trained on her. "I see you haven't lost your theatrical touch."

"Theatrical?" He cocked his head to the side, and Raven could feel him smile slowly under his mask. "I don't believe I'm the one teetering on the edge of life, still trying to hold onto my silly, _honorable_ beliefs. If that isn't some form of _sappy _theatrics, I don't know what is." He stepped down the stairs, picking his way through the wreckage.

He moved a few inches closer to Wally, and Raven's anger flared up before she could stop it. "Stay away from my friend!" Her powers flew out and stopped his movements.

"_Friend_?"Deathstroke laughed and looked at her again, cocking his head to the side. "You're a _demon seed_, Raven… exactly what do you need friends for? Why should _you _need friends when you are destined to be used and discarded?"

Raven couldn't stop the insult from hitting her heart, and she felt her body shake under the pain. He knew what he was doing. He was ripping apart her defenses to get inside her and break her from within. But she wouldn't let him win. Not again, and not like this. "Shut up." Well, _that _was a genius response.

"Clever." He leaned over Wally's unconscious body and prodded his limp arm with his boot. Wally's left wrist was twisted at an unnatural angle, and it looked as though some bone was trying to come through the skin. Deathstroke raised his foot and smashed it down on his forearm, breaking the bones on the cement. Wally screamed and twisted in the debris, barely comprehending why he was in pain.

"Stop!" Raven ran forward and shoved her shoulder into his chest. Deathstroke was unimpressed and used her momentum against her, tossing her to the ground. She knocked her head on a shard of metal, and the world went black for a moment. She could feel his strong grip as he grabbed her cloak and brought her face to meet his. Bright lights and fuzzy shapes passed across her eyes, but she could still see him staring at her, promising death.

"How interesting… little demon. I never thought I'd see you so attached to a cocky, useless superhero."

"He's not useless!" Raven's weak attempts at freeing herself only seemed to amuse him.

Deathstroke stared down at her before throwing her body against a wall as if she were nothing more than a broken toy. "Forget it, Raven… you've lost. You have no friends, Kid Flash is broken, and you have exhausted all your powers just trying to heal a silly little wound. What are you going to do? You have failed. Now, hand over the chip and I will give you a quick, merciful death. Kid Flash… may not be so lucky, but you have been a fair opponent."

"No." Raven glared up at him and spat. "You will not kill me, and you will stay the _hell _away from my friends."

"Unlikely."

"Fuck off." Raven could feel the emotions in her body take over before she had a chance to stop them. Power welled up from the deepest corners of her soul, darkness, light, anger, passion, honor… everything seemed to hit her at once. A million pieces of her, all wrapped into pure energy. The world grew white and her body raised its self above him. "You will not hurt my friends!"

All the energy of her soul seemed to escape her, and Deathstroke was powerless to stop it. He was tossed into the power like a raft in a hurricane, his own soul breaking and ripping apart with every attack. Minutes passed, maybe hours. Time had no meaning, pain had no end.

And then it stopped.

Raven had exhausted herself.

She tumbled into a heap on the floor, feeling the world turn thick with emptiness. Her eyes started to close, but through the slits, she could see the retreating form of Deathstroke, his curses muffled under her own pain. She was lucky. She'd won again, but how many more times could this happen before she lost?

Her head tilted just enough to catch a glimpse of the shuddering form of Kid Flash. Her eyes started to drift close again, a hot afternoon breeze pouring into the safe house. He was alive, so right now it didn't matter if she lost after this. Right now, she'd won.

)O(

_Thanks so much for reading! Please leave a review if you are so inclined!_


	6. Chapter Five

**Replacement  
><strong>Chapter Five

)O(

Wally had the strangest dreams. He saw the walls of the safe house shatter around him, and then there was a fuzzy black and red figure looming over him, sputtering off some nonsense about Raven and her heritage. And then there was intense, burning pain rippling though his body. Bright lights, a surge of power, and silence. There must have been nothing but darkness and silence for a long time, because the next thing he dreamt was the rhythmic sound of someone talking to him (he distinctly recalled the word "idiot" said several times), humming to him, chanting to him… the cool taste of water, the feel of a soft, wet cloth on his skin. It was all so surreal.

The weirdest part was that he couldn't remember falling asleep. The last thing he recalled was standing around talking to Raven about her _stupid_ decision to sacrifice herself. And then…ugh. He couldn't remember anything after that. Had they been attacked?

He grunted and sat up, holding his head, and trying to keep his brain from pounding through his scull. "Damn. What happened? I feel like I've been crushed by a truck."

"You were stepped on by Deathstroke… but I suppose the feeling is the same."

Wally jerked too quickly out of surprised and hissed as his side burned in pain. The skin around his abdomen felt tight, pulled and swollen, as if he'd gotten stitches. He cursed and looked into a pair of deep plum eyes next to him. A breath escaped his lungs and he smiled. "You're all right."

Raven's eyebrow peaked and she leaned back in the chair next to him, examining his face. "Yes. _I'm _fine. But _you_ were the one crushed by debris and was trampled by Deathstroke. The fact that you're awake, let alone _alive_ is amazing to me."

His eyebrows knitted together and he looked at his hands. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Three days." Raven stood up and hobbled over to his bed. Wally looked down at her feet and noticed that her left ankle was bandaged tightly. How bad had their fight with Deathstroke been? "Your team has been in here every five minutes, checking to make sure you're healthy and annoying the hell out of me. I can't help you heal if they keep breaking my concentration." She sat down on the edge of his mattress and looked into his eyes.

"Yeah, well… M'Gann can kind of act like a mother hen, I guess."

"Starfire's… _concern_ is not helping her either. That girl is worse than your team." Raven reached over him and handed him a Styrofoam cup with a straw. "Drink this. It's water and your body needs hydration after your sleep."

Wally sucked on the straw, glad to be putting something into his stomach. Silence fell around them and he allowed himself the pleasure of examining Raven's face. Whatever happened must have been _intense. _There was a red cut down the middle of her lip and a fading bruise near her right eye. She looked beaten, scarred, and paler than usual, as if she was both physically and emotionally drained. "Raven… what _happened_?"

"We met up with Deathstroke." She leaned forward and raised the hem of his shirt, exposing his abdomen. Color flooded his face, but she remained stoic and analytical. "He blew up the safe house, we were crushed by debris, and I completely drained myself trying to keep us safe. On the bright side, I scared Deathstroke off with my scary demon ways." She glanced up and him and smirked before she pressed her hand to his side. Her touch was gentle and cool, and Wally could feel something warm and thick spread through him, like blue syrup.

"What are you doing?" He looked down at the top of her head, glad she couldn't see him blush.

"Healing you. You took some rebar through the ribs." Her finger tips moved upwards, and Wally both shivered and cringed. Bad. This was very, _very _bad. "I've been trying to keep you as healthy as possible with what I have left. I'm sorry it's not a lot, but it's all I have right now. You're safe for right now, but you'll need to take it easy for a little while, at least a week."

"Wait… what?" His hand closed on her wrist and he pulled her away. "What are you talking about? You're wasting what little powers you have on healing me?"

"It's not wasting. I want to help you." Raven shrugged and looked at him as if this wasn't a big deal. "You got me to the safe house so I could heal myself. The least I could do is make sure you healed properly. Call it… returning the favor."

That didn't help. Wally glared and his hand tightened on her wrist, and his arm twitched as if he were going to pull her closer. There was something strange growing in the small space between them, and he wasn't sure if he liked it or not. "You still have a gaping hole in your chest."

"So do you." Raven swatted his hand away from her wrist and pulled up his shirt again, her fingertips touching the pale skin underneath. "Now, shut up and let me heal it before it gets worse. Jeez." Wally closed his eyes and tried to think of manly things, like football, and spiders, and running really fast. _Anything_ at this point to keep his mind away from her skin against his, and to keep his body from reacting to her soft touch.

"Raven, I…" Wally's protest was cut short as the door to the room flew open and M'Gann and Starfire walked in. Raven pulled away from him, letting his shirt fall back down to cover his abdomen.

"Wally! You're awake!" M'Gann set a manila folder on the table next to the door and started toward them, her face alight with excitement and relief. Wally frowned. How beaten up could he have been that M'Gann was that concerned for him?

"Hang on." Raven sat up and held up her hand, frowning at the two of them and stopping their pursuit. M'Gann pouted and Starfire seemed genuinely curious. "He's not fully healed yet, and his body is a bit weak. Be careful, and no hugging, Star, or you'll tear out his stitches. I don't have enough power to put them back in. Are we clear?"

"Okay…" M'Gann sat in the chair Raven had occupied and looked a little nervous as her eyes darted from Raven's body to his and back again. "I'm glad to know you're up and awake. I'm sure the guys will want to see you and make sure you're okay."

"Oh, yes! Robin was most concerned for your safety and wellbeing." Starfire sat next to Raven on the mattress, looking at him with her wide-eyed innocence. That girl was almost _too _pretty.

"That's good to know." He rubbed the back of his head and smile shyly at her.

Raven's eyes darkened and her lips twitched as she removed her hand from his skin and stood up, making her way to the table with the folder on it. Wally watched her carefully, while still trying to listen to the other two girls' conversation, but he couldn't stop looking at Raven. Her lips were pulled taught and her brow was furrowed, but it wasn't from whatever data was in the folder. What was wrong with her? Did he do something wrong?

"… even Beast Boy has been questioning your safety." Starfire reached out and touched his hand, making him blush again. Okay, physical contact… weird. "I am glad you are healthy."

Somewhere in the room, he could hear something crack, like a vase or the glass in a picture frame. Wally turned and looked at Raven, but she didn't seem to notice the sound and was way too engrossed in whatever was in that file.

"M'Gann… these are the reports I asked for? The ones from the League?"

"Mm-hm." She turned and looked at Raven, nodding. "I had the League take a look at the hard drive you dropped off. But they said the data was too corrupted to extract any information. Both them and I tried to do what I could to restore the hard drive to a better, Raven… but there wasn't much to work off of. I am so sorry, I know we needed that information against Lex Luthor and Deathstroke."

"Mm… we needed a lot of things that were on that hard drive…" Her lips pressed into a thin line and she started for the door, her knuckles white as she gripped the manila folder. "I'm sorry, but I need a minute alone… if you don't mind watching Wally for a second, I'll be right back."

M'Gann chewed on her lower lip, watching as Raven left the room. She shook her head and turned back to Wally. "Poor girl. She's probably at her wit's end right now. You both worked so hard to get that information to us, and it has all been mangled beyond repair."

"The hard drive from the communicator?" He vaguely remembered Raven trying to pry the thing free of her tacky blood, but that had been moments before his black-out, and everything felt strange and hazy. "_None_ of the information was left on it? But… we risked our _lives _to get that data. Raven had an _arm _shoved through her chest to get that data."

"I know." Starfire rubbed one of her arms and looked away. "You both put yourselves in such terrible danger and yet you have no reward or positive outcome to show for all the work you did. It is most upsetting for all of us."

"And the League? Are they taking written reports?" The stress and anger was starting to aggravate his injury, but he didn't care. This wasn't _fair_. "I _know _what was on that server, hidden in files with old, boring tax returns."

"No… Raven tried, but no one at the League can listen to her. Besides, she's been a bit preoccupied for the past few days." She looked back at Wally and offered a weak smile, patting his other hand. "And she's been looking after you for all this time, Wally. She hasn't left your side in three days. She's been here trying to keep you healthy and get you healed as quickly as possible."

Starfire nodded. "She is most attentive to you and your needs. She managed to reset and heal your left arm yesterday. It had been broken severely in the fight with Deathstroke."

The damaged hard drive suddenly didn't seem so important. "She's… she's been here the whole time?" Wally felt something twist in his chest and he looked toward the door. Why? She needed her own rest after what had happened, not sit here and baby him. He could heal just fine without her powers, he had done it before.

"Whatever happened between you two…" M'Gann giggled and gave a sidelong glance to Starfire before looking back at Wally. "It must have been something special."

"Um…" Wally suddenly felt a storm of emotions rise up into his throat and he offered the two of them what must have been a very awkward smile. "Well, you know me and my charm."

"Wally West… please stop talking." Raven entered the room again and frowned at him. He enjoyed the slight shade of pink on her cheeks. So, she _hadn't _forgotten about their kiss. That was good. "You're going to give our friends a reason to gossip."

M'Gann laughed. "Gossip? About you and Wally? As if! You two are on entirely different ends of the spectrum." She leaned forward onto her knees and smiled at Wally. "Right?"

"Ugh…" Raven pinched the bridge of her nose and started to shoo them out of his room. Starfire was giggling behind her hand and that only seemed to irritate Raven more. She shoved them out the door and sighed. "Go find something to do. I'll pack my things in a little bit and we can go, okay?"

"Go?" Wally frowned and watched as she approached the bed again. "Go where?"

"Home. Back to Jump. You know, where I belong. I don't have a mission to complete anymore, I'm not going to hang around Taipei for no apparent reason." She sighed and sat down on the mattress and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah…" He gave a one-shouldered shrug, making sure he was careful with his stitches. Why was this so awkward? "I know… It's just kind of weird to see you go."

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Wally, you spent all that time talking about how you thought I was here to replace your team and how you didn't trust me, and now that I'm about to leave you get upset. Will you _please _make up your mind?"

"I just don't know how I feel about you leaving." He sniffed indignantly and leaned back against the headboard. "Our mission isn't _technically_ finished. We know what Lex Luthor was hiding in those servers, we know that there is something else going on, and you just want to go home? That doesn't make any sense."

"I don't _want _to go home. But, the Justice League has labeled this mission a failure and a waste of resources." Raven frowned and looked away from him for a moment. "We were unable to retrieve the information we were supposed to retrieve, unable to properly extract the hard drive with said information, since I am not affiliated with the League, I cannot submit a report of my findings. The mission is a failure and the Teen Titans are to pack up and head home."

"A… a _failure_?" Wally thought his stitches might rip out of his body from sheer anger. They had spent all that time planning, searching, and fighting. Raven had herself mortally wounded, Wally had rebar puncture his ribcage, and yet they came out victorious with the information in hand. But due to _stupid _bureaucratics, the information was unable to be submitted? Where was the fairness in that? "That's _stupid_. We did all that work just to fail?"

Raven shrugged. "We didn't fail, we're just not allowed to succeed."

"You're so nonchalant about this, Raven… like everything is okay."

"What do you want me to be? Angry?" She sighed again and shook her head. "Being angry isn't going to fix the fact that I cannot submit a report because I am not affiliated with the League. I am not allowed to continue my dealings with your team and the information we discovered. Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, and I are to pack up and head home. We're done."

"It's not fair."

Raven shrugged again. "I know."

Wally cursed and looked at his hands in his lap. All that work, just to come up empty-handed? Just to be told that they failed? After everything that Raven had done? She put herself in harm's way more than once just to keep him safe, and yet she was told she failed. He glanced up at her. "So, now what?"

"Now?" Raven heaved a deep sigh and looked at him. She looked exhausted, not that he blamed her. Doing what she did to defeat Deathstroke and then taking care of him for three days straight, she had every right to be tired. "Now, we pack up and go back to our separate cities. You return to Happy Harbor and I go back to Jump City. The mission is considered a failure by all parties involved. We were unable to retrieve hard evidence of what we found, and so we failed. End of story."

"But we know the truth. So it's not considered a failure."

"By us." Raven sighed and reached into a bag next to her, fishing around in the pockets for something. "I need you to write a report for the League. They won't listen to me, but they will to you. Maybe if we explain why Deathstroke is such a threat, and his ties with Lex Luthor… then maybe we can stop this before it gets worse. Before more people get hurt. You have _real _connections, I just have illusions of grandeur." Wally was once again reminded of the distance between her team and his, and he cringed. She was an amazing person and an amazing fighter, but she held no weight in his world.

"This is for you." Her face was a deep red and she wasn't meeting his eyes. "Cyborg made one for everyone and I wanted to give you yours." She glanced at him before dropping the yellow communicator in his lap and looking away. "You're annoying, childish, impulsive, and cocky… but you saved my life more than a few times… and I guess you're my friend. So, thank you. You've done a lot for me, Wally. I just wanted you to know."

There was a long pause before let out a long string of Wally laughter, and the movement tugged at his stitches but he didn't care. "Only you can turn a compliment into an insult, Raven." He picked up that communicator and looked at it, somehow realizing this was his only line to his new friends. Okay, Beast Boy was kinda funny, Cyborg was kinda cool, Starfire could be really sweet, and Raven was… well… _Raven. _ And after everything that happened, they had all become his friends. It sucked to know they had to leave. "So, you're just gonna go back to Jump… and I'm going back to Happy Harbor…" He felt Raven's eyes on him and he looked up at her.

"You're upset."

"Well… _yeah_. I mean… I just met you and the Titans, and even though _you _can be annoying too… I kinda like you guys." He sighed and dropped the communicator in his lap. "And… I liked our partnership. You're a great fighter and an awesome teammate. This just kinda sucks."

Raven's face colored again. "You too."

"And you're kind of a good kisser."

Raven pulled her hood up, hiding her face from him. He smirked and watched as she shifted uncomfortably under his stare. "One time. I was losing blood and going into shock, my actions cannot and should not be judged as if I were acting with some iota of sanity. So, lay off it. "

"I thought you were acting just fine." Wally pushed the covers of him and moved towards her, trying to rile her up. "What do you say? One kiss before you leave?"

"Not on your life. And get back in bed before you rip out all the stitches I worked so hard on." Raven pushed him away and started for the door. There was a long heavy pause as all the teasing vanished, and she looked back at him, offering a small smile. This was their end, and neither one wanted to reach it. "I'll see you around, Wally."

"You won't…" He sighed and moved back into his bed, shrugging. "But I guess that's to be expected. Seeing as we live on opposite sides of the continent. And have different jobs. And connections."

"Don't count me out just yet." Raven laughed and leaned against the door frame, watching him. "I'm sure I'll need your witty banter for something."

"Of course."

She looked out from the shadows of her hood and cocked her head to the side, offering a small smile. "You're always welcome to visit… just please don't try to stay." And she left without another word. Wally, felt a sinister smile peel across his lips before he picked up the communicator and switched it to an open frequency.

"Raven and I kissed. And she thinks I'm good at it."

"WALLY!"

)O(

_The end, I know… you're all very curious as to what exactly was going on with Lex and his list of villains, but that is for another day, perhaps. Thank you so much for reading! And please leave a review. _


	7. One Year Later

_One Year Later_

_. . ._

Raven's hand was surprisingly cool when it slid into his own, her slender fingers weaving between his knuckles in a movement almost too quick for him to recognize, and he jumped a little at the invasion of his space. She was searching him out for support in this crowd of people, hoping he would keep her safe against the onslaught of emotions and feelings. Wally glanced down at the top of her head and bit back a squeak, his fingers twitching just a little as she pulled closer. Why in the world did she have to do this _now_? He was barely managing to keep his head on straight while she was next to him, and _now_ she was holding his freaking _hand_.

God, he felt like an idiot.

This whole party _and _their interactions were just a front, he _had_ to remember that. It was only so they could sneak into this place and get close to their target, nothing more. This was a recon mission, that was it. They were only pretending that they were a couple... this wasn't _real_. Raven was called here because of her powers, because she could sense emotions, because she knew what she was doing. She was brought on this mission because she was _useful -_ she wasn't here because this actually _was_ a date - that would be absurd. She was here because this was her _job_.

All of these disjointed thoughts were things he had to remember.

Wally bit back a sigh and stared at the ceiling, counting the crystals in the chandelier above them to keep his mind occupied from thinking about the way she looked in that blue velvet dress, or the sight of her eyes when she looked up at him, that teasing smile playing across her lips. _God, _he hadn't seen her in a year, and he honestly thought that maybe those weird feelings she stirred up in him before were gone - completely extinguished after the adrenaline of the mission had worn off. But they _weren't_. Jesus, they weren't. No, they were just as much there as they had been the night they escaped Slade.

He glanced down at her and saw the edge of her still-red scar peek out of the edge of her backless dress. It curled over her pale skin like a vibrant reminder of what had happened just twelve months ago. His eyes slid closed and he fought against the memories rising up in the back of his mind. The smell of blood. Her _scream. _The sound of the world caving in on them. Her _scream. _The sight of her lying half-dead on the cot and trying not to die from the _hole in her stomach_. Her _scream. _It was all too much.

"Stop fidgeting."

His eyes shot open and he was pulled out of his memories and back to the present.

"I mean it. You're going to draw attention to us, and we're supposed to be 'normal'." Her voice was low and whispered over him like candle smoke. "And stop looking at my scar. I know it's there, and so do you, you don't need to keep reminding me of what happened last year." She took a drink of the champagne in her other hand, fingers tightening in his own, tugging gently at him. "And keep your emotions under control. I have two hundred other people's feelings and thoughts beating down on me, I don't need yours too."

Wally rolled his eyes and let go of an annoyed sigh. Honestly he didn't know what he was worried about, she was still the same damn Raven - cold, reserved, and completely focused on the mission. She hadn't changed a bit, not that he expected her to. But still... it was nice to see her again. He tightened his fingers in her hand and watched as her shoulders relaxed just a little, her grip easing into his hold. A second ticked by and she looked up at him again, a thin smile now playing on her lips.

"It is good to see you again," she murmured into her glass.

He felt the corner of his mouth tug upward into a smirk. "I was going to say the same thing before you told me to keep my emotions under control. I mean, I know sometimes I'm a lot of man to handle, but I honestly thought that you-"

Raven dropped his hand and smacked his arm, rolling her eyes. "At least it's nice to know you haven't changed that much in a year, Wally."

"Ditto, Princess of Darkness." He nudged her shoulder and watched her cheeks burn a bit red as the embarrassment settled in. Even after all this time, she still looked a little cute…. but only a little. He pushed at his copper hair and fidgeted with his tie, looking around at a bunch of stuffed shirts crowding around each other, each trying to out-rich one another.

_'I have a 200 ft yacht.' _

_'Yes, well I have a private island in Dubai.'_

_'I wasn't sure which Ferrari I wanted, so I bought all of them.'_

The two of them must have stuck out like a sore thumb, but Raven didn't seem to care even if she did notice. Instead, her eyes flicked from group to group, watching each of them carefully as she tried to hone in on their emotional responses to the party. Occasionally, she would pull out her phone and make a note of someone, before turning back to the crowd and trying to choose which one of the patrons was going to cause the most issues.

Wally tried to keep up conversation, but Raven needed to focus, and after a while he was bored senseless. Although, Raven wasn't faring much better. She rubbed the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths to calm her nerves. He watched her for a long moment as she tried to focus again on a group near the windows, picking out emotions from the crowd, but it seemed to be overloading her senses. His heart skipping a little bit, Wally found her hand again and pulled her against him.

"Hey, Rae-"

"Don't call me _Rae_."

"-you've been at this for almost two hours without a break. You're not a machine, okay?" He continued to ignore her sharp, angry stare and waved her off. "You need a second to calm down, or you're going to blow something up. And as much as I'd like to continue this little game in finding this fucker, I'd also like this building to stay in one piece too. You know… because _we're in it_." He plucked the champagne glass out of her hand and set it on a nearby table.

"Your confidence in me is practically inspiring. I don't know why I didn't turn to you more when I was in need." Raven rolled her eyes, but didn't fight him when he pulled her from the room. Instead she let him lead her through the maze-like structure of the art gallery where the "rich people pretend they care about the poor" consortium was taking place.

Modern art bled with antique oils and sculptures, and bright lights shone over cream-colored marble walls as their steps echoed through the space. The chamber music and hum of conversation faded into perfect silence. Eventually the world seemed to dissolve into nothing, and they found themselves tucked back in a quiet corner where there was modern art done by a little-known artist - someplace a posh, upper class business person would never be seen. Wally finally let go of her hand and she fell down onto a small bench, looking up at him with an expression that sat somewhere between annoyed and relieved.

A few seconds ticked by and finally she whispered, "Thank you."

"No problem. I'm here to keep you safe and healthy." He sat next to her and loosened his tie, glad to have the relief of privacy between them, where they could be friends and teammates again. "That was my job after all. I was supposed to keep you safe, no matter what. Even if it included from yourself."

She rolled her eyes again, throwing up that invisible wall between them. "Yes, and you're doing a marvelous job… but you _do_ realize that I can take care of myself, right? I don't need you trying to protect me as if I'm a child."

Wally sighed. "I never said that."

"You didn't, but your leader likes to think that I'm incapable of holding my own."

"He's worried about your safety, you know." Wally stretched out his legs and leaned back against the bench cushion. "If anything were to happen to you, Robin would never hear the end of it from Cy. Hell… I doubt Robin would have a head before he got out the words 'I'm sorry'."

Raven heaved an annoyed sigh. "That doesn't excuse him for not trusting me." She leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees, looking over at him as she raised an eyebrow. There was a crackle of black energy at her fingertips but it quickly receded. "I was forced to pick a bodyguard while I was here, and he _had_ to make sure that I wasn't doing something brash and stupid… as if I don't know how to fight bad guys or be inconspicuous."

"That's not it, you know." Wally sighed and leaned back even further on his hands, eyes still grazing over the scar that ribboned across her back. The memories came back again like a nightmare he couldn't wake up from, and he had to take a moment to push them to the side. It was all too much to handle, knowing that she had been that close to death and there was nothing he could do about it. "It's just… after what happened last time, he wants to make sure you're safe. You guys are our friends, no matter what."

Her eyes flicked over to him before she turned away just a little. "I know, but it doesn't help me from feeling like an invalid. I _am_ perfectly capable of fighting myself."

"Mm…" Wally shook his head, deciding that is was better to not point out that the last time he saw her fight, she had practically sacrificed herself to save him. Instead, he licked his lips and leaned forward, letting his fingertips trace the edge of the scar. Raven flinched for a moment, but she didn't shy away from him, instead she let him touch her, tracing the scar underneath her back and towards her hip, feeling it become more gnarled and misshapen. His mind wandered for a moment, and he felt the words bubble up into his throat before he could stop them.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure." Raven shrugged and looked over her shoulder at him, not once telling him to move his hand.

"Why did you ask for me on this mission? I mean, Conner is way better at being a bodyguard than I am - he's got that superhuman strength and all, and Kal is… well, he's better looking and way more level headed. Artemis is great with long-range weapons. M'gann has powers kinda like your own..." Wally shook his head and pulled his hand away from her back, letting it rest on his thigh. "So, why me?"

Raven turned to look at the art again, her expression soft and thoughtful. "I thought that was obvious."

"Ah… _no_. Not exactly."

"I know I can trust you."

"Oh." His thoughts faltered for a moment, stuttering a little under the weight of his words. "And you can't trust any of the others on the team?"

"I never said that."

Wally watched a blush crawl up her neck to the cheeks and she glanced down into her lap, chewing on her lower lip as she thought. He shifted a little, turning to look at the ugly piece of modern art. "So, then what is it? Why me?"

"Because you saved my life. Because you didn't give up on me, even though I tried to get you to leave me." Her eyes flicked to his and she smiled, cocking her head to the side. "Because you did everything in your power to make sure I was safe, and I haven't forgotten about what I owe you for a single minute of that past year. I owe you more than just a pat on the back, Wally, I owe you my trust and my friendship. You did amazing things to keep me alive, and you're an amazing fighter that I'm glad to call my friend."

He swallowed, and Wally felt himself pitching forward just a little, looking into her eyes.

She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as her blush darkened. "And I asked you to come because you're kind of a good kisser."

He smirked and reached for his communicator, but Raven stopped him with a wave of her hand.

Her eyes were glowing bright red and she reached out to grab onto the lapels of his jacket, fire flashing behind her eyes. "If you do that again, Wally, so help me I will shove your head through this ugly painting and bury your body at the bottom of the ocean. Are we _clear_?"

He swallowed hard, letting the communicator fall back into his pocket. "C-crystal."

"Good." Raven let go of his jacket and she stood up, looking down at him as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Now that I've rested, let's get back to the party so I can figure out who might be plotting here, and then I can drown my sorrows in free champagne."

"So, tell me…" He hummed as he followed her back to the party, the note teasing and light in his voice, in spite of the way his heart thrummed against his ribs. Wally licked his lips and took a slow breath, trying to keep his laughter continuing to cover up his nerves. "If you wanted me to come because you thought I was a good kisser… does that mean you were expecting on being kissed tonight, Raven?"

Her steps stopped abruptly and she whipped around to face him, the sudden movement causing Wally to practically run into her. Raven tilted her face up to his own, her eyes unreadable as a long moment of heavy silence stretched between them. It continued until Wally began to feel like his bones might be crushing under the weight of her stare, and he fidgeted with the sudden force of her darkness. Raven arched a dark eyebrow and reached up to grab the knot of his tie, yanking him by his neck down a few inches so he stared right into her endless eyes.

Her stare flicked from his lips to his eyes and back again, before whispering, "What do _you_ think, Wally West?"

He just swallowed.

Raven released him and turned back around, a smile playing on her lips. "That's what I thought."

)O(

_Sorry it's not a sequel! I wrote part of this under a prompt on Tumblr, so I cleaned it up and added it to the story. I hope I didn't disappoint, and thanks for being awesome, friends! _


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